Data element comparison processors, methods, systems, and instructions

ABSTRACT

A processor includes a decode unit to decode an instruction that is to indicate a first source packed data operand that is to include at least four data elements, to indicate a second source packed data operand that is to include at least four data elements, and to indicate one or more destination storage locations. The execution unit, in response to the instruction, is to store at least one result mask operand in the destination storage location(s). The at least one result mask operand is to include a different mask element for each corresponding data element in one of the first and second source packed data operands in a same relative position. Each mask element is to indicate whether the corresponding data element in said one of the source packed data operands equals any of the data elements in the other of the source packed data operands.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

Embodiments described herein generally relate to processors. Inparticular, embodiments described herein generally relate to processorsto process packed data operands.

Background Information

Many processors have Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD)architectures. In SIMD architectures, a packed data instruction, vectorinstruction, or SIMD instruction may operate on multiple data elementsor multiple pairs of data elements simultaneously or in parallel. Theprocessor may have parallel execution hardware responsive to the packeddata instruction to perform the multiple operations simultaneously or inparallel.

Multiple data elements may be packed within one register or memorylocation as packed data or vector data. In packed data, the bits of theregister or other storage location may be logically divided into asequence of data elements. For example, a 256-bit wide packed dataregister may have four 64-bit wide data elements, eight 32-bit dataelements, sixteen 16-bit data elements, etc. Each of the data elementsmay represent a separate individual piece of data (e.g., a pixel color,a component of a complex number, etc.), which may be operated uponseparately and/or independently of the others.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may best be understood by referring to the followingdescription and accompanying drawings that are used to illustrateembodiments. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a portion of an example sparse matrix.

FIG. 2 illustrates a compressed sparse row representation of a subset ofthe columns of rows 1 and 2 of the sparse matrix of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a processor that isoperative to perform an embodiment of a data element comparisoninstruction.

FIG. 4 is a block flow diagram of an embodiment of a method ofperforming an embodiment of a data element comparison instruction.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a first example embodiment of a dataelement comparison operation.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a second example embodiment of a dataelement comparison operation.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a third example embodiment of a dataelement comparison operation.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a fourth example embodiment of a dataelement comparison operation.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example of a masked data elementconsolidate operation.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of a suitable set ofpacked data operation mask registers.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of a suitable set ofpacked data registers.

FIGS. 12A-C are block diagrams illustrating a generic vector friendlyinstruction format and instruction templates thereof, according toembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 13A-B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary specific vectorfriendly instruction format and an opcode field, according toembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 14A-D is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary specific vectorfriendly instruction format and fields thereof, according to embodimentsof the invention.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a register architecture.

FIG. 16A is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an in-orderpipeline and an embodiment of a register renaming out-of-orderissue/execution pipeline.

FIG. 16B is a block diagram of an embodiment of processor core includinga front end unit coupled to an execution engine unit and both coupled toa memory unit.

FIG. 17A is a block diagram of an embodiment of a single processor core,along with its connection to the on-die interconnect network, and withits local subset of the Level 2 (L2) cache.

FIG. 17B is a block diagram of an embodiment of an expanded view of partof the processor core of FIG. 17A.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a processor that may havemore than one core, may have an integrated memory controller, and mayhave integrated graphics.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of a computerarchitecture.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of a computerarchitecture.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram of a third embodiment of a computerarchitecture.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram of a fourth embodiment of a computerarchitecture.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram of use of a software instruction converter toconvert binary instructions in a source instruction set to binaryinstructions in a target instruction set, according to embodiments ofthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Disclosed herein are data element comparison instructions, processors toexecute the instructions, methods performed by the processors whenprocessing or executing the instructions, and systems incorporating oneor more processors to process or execute the instructions. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are set forth (e.g.,specific instruction operations, data formats, processor configurations,microarchitectural details, sequences of operations, etc.). However,embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In otherinstances, well-known circuits, structures and techniques have not beenshown in detail to avoid obscuring the understanding of the description.

The data element comparison instructions disclosed herein aregeneral-purpose instructions and are not limited to any known use.Rather, these instructions may be used for different purposes and/or indifferent ways based on the creativity of the programmer, compiler, orthe like. In some embodiments, these instructions may be used to processdata that is associated with sparse matrices, although the scope of theinvention is not so limited. In some embodiments, these instructions maybe used to process data associated with a compressed sparse row (CSR)representation, although the scope of the invention is not so limited.To further illustrate certain concepts, specific uses of theseinstructions to process indices in a CSR format, which may be used torepresent indices and values of a sparse matrix, will be described,although it is to be appreciated that this is just one possible use ofthese instructions. Representatively, this may be useful in dataanalytics, high performance computing, machine learning, sparse linearalgebra problems, and the like. In other embodiments, these instructionsmay be used to process other types of data besides sparse matricesand/or CSR format data. For example, these instructions may be used toprocess various different types of data, such as, for example,multimedia data, graphics data, sound data, video data, pixels, textstring data, character string data, financial data, other types ofinteger data, or the like. Moreover, such processing of data may be usedfor different purposes, such as, for example, to identify duplicate dataelements, select duplicate data elements, consolidate duplicate dataelements, remove duplicate data elements, alter duplicate data elements,or for various other purposes.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a portion of an example sparse matrix 100.The matrix generally represents a two-dimensional data structure inwhich data values are arranged into rows and columns. The data valuesmay also be referred to herein simply as values or data elements. Theillustrated example sparse matrix is shown to have at least thirty ninecolumns and at least two rows, and optionally more. Alternatively, othersparse matrices may have more rows and/or fewer or more columns. Thevalues of the first row are shown as a* values, where the asterisk (*)represents the column number having the value. Similarly, the values ofthe second row are shown as b* values, where the asterisk (*) representsthe column number having the value. For example, the value in row 1column 7 is a7, the value in row 1 column 23 is a23, the value in row 2column 15 is b15, and so on.

In many different applications it may be desirable to operate on twovectors, such as, for example, two rows of the sparse matrix. Forexample, this may be performed for sparse vector dot productcalculations. Such sparse vector dot product calculations are commonlyused in machine learning applications, for example. Examples of suchmachine learning applications are the kernelized support vector machine(SVM), the open source libSVM, kernelized principal component analysis,and the like. A frequently used kernel in such applications is thesquared distance computation pattern, which is also known as the L2-normbetween two vectors. The squared distance function, f, (∥f∥) between twovectors α and β is represented by Equation 1:

∥α−β∥²=α²+β²−2α·β  Equation 1

The inner-product (·) between the two vectors α and β, which may besparse vectors, is represented as a dot product calculation as shown inEquation 2:

α−β=Σα(i)*β(i),0≦i=min(length(α),length(β))  Equation 2

Such sparse vector dot product calculations tend to significantlycontribute to the overall computational time of machine learning andother applications. Accordingly, increasing the performance ofperforming such sparse vector dot product calculations may tend to helpimprove the performance of machine learning as well as otherapplications.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the sparse matrix 100 may be referred to assparse when a significant number or proportion of the values of thematrix are zero values. Often, such zero values have specialmathematical properties, such as, for example, multiplication by zerogenerates a product of zero, or the like. For example, in the case ofmultiplication of values in different rows of the same column, such zerovalues may generate zero valued products, whereas multiplication of twonon-zero values may generate non-zero values. By way of example,multiplication of the data elements in rows 1 and 2 of column 2 (i.e.,a2*0) generates a product of zero, whereas multiplication of the dataelements in rows 1 and 2 of column 3 (i.e., a3*b3) generates a non-zeroproduct. Further, in the specific case of a multiply accumulate or dotproduct type of calculation, often such zero values may not contributeto the overall accumulation value or dot product.

Accordingly, in these and certain other uses, it may be desired toignore these zero values of the sparse matrix. In the sparse matrix ofthis particular example, as shown by reference number 102 there are onlythree pairs of values from rows 1 and 2 occupying a common column whichboth include non-zero values. Specifically, this is true for a3 and b3,for a7 and b7, and for a23 and b23. In some embodiments, it may bebeneficial to be able to efficiently identify and/or isolate such pairsof values. As will be explained further below, the data elementcomparison instructions disclosed herein are useful for this purpose,although they are not limited to just this purpose.

FIG. 2 illustrates a compressed sparse row (CSR) representation 204 of asubset of the columns of rows 1 and 2 of the sparse matrix of FIG. 1. Inthe CSR representation or format, the values of the matrix and/or avector (e.g., a single row of the matrix) are represented by a 2-tupleor pair of an index and a corresponding value. In the case of theaforementioned sparse matrix, the index may represent the column number,for example, and the value may represent the data value for a given rowin that column. These <index:value>2-tuples or pairs may be stringedtogether, generally in increasing index order, for all non-zero datavalues in a row. The end of the string may be demarcated by a sentinelvalue, such as, for example, a value of negative one (i.e., −1). Thezero values may be omitted from, or “compressed” out of, the CSRrepresentation. By way of example, the CSR representations for a subsetof the columns of row 1, and for a subset of the columns of row 2, maybe represented as follows:

<2:a2>, <3:a3>, <7:a7>, <9:a9>, <12:a12>, <13:a13>, . . . <39:a39>

<3:b3>, <5:b5>, <6:b6>, <7:b7>, <11:b11>, <15:b15>, . . . <31:b31>

As can be readily seen, such a CSR format omits the zero values (e.g.,which may be non-contributing to a dot product or other type ofoperation). However one likely consequence of the CSR representation orformat is that values that were in the same column of a matrix (or setof vectors), such as the data values a3 and b3, may not be in the samerelative 2-tuple position and/or be “aligned”, when converted into theCSR representation due in part to the removal of generally differentnumbers of zeroes and/or zeroes in different positions in the differentvectors. This lack of alignment is shown in the illustration byreference numeral 206. For example, in the matrix of FIG. 1, the valuesa3 and b3 were both in column 3 and were vertically aligned, although inthe CSR representations of rows 1 and 2, the tuple <3:a3> is in thesecond position from the left in the list of tuples (e.g., since a3 isthe second non-zero value in row 1), whereas the row 2 pair <3:b3> is inthe first position from the left in the list of tuples (e.g., since b3is the first non-zero value in row 2). Similarly, the data elements a7and b7, and a23 and b23, may also be in different relative positions inthe CSR format.

One likely consequence of this, when processing data in vector, packeddata, or Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD) processors, is thatvalues that were in the same column of the matrix may no longer be inthe same corresponding vertically aligned data element positions ofpacked data operands, vectors, or SIMD operands. In some embodiments itmay be desirable to operate on values in the same column (e.g., in thecase of a vector multiply, etc.). This may tend to pose certainchallenges with efficiently implementing operations on such values sinceoften vector, packed data, or SIMD operations are designed to operate oncorresponding vertically aligned data elements. For example, aninstruction set may have a packed multiply instruction to multiply acorresponding pair of least significant data elements of a first andsecond source packed data operands, multiply a corresponding pair ofnext-to-least significant data elements of the first and second sourcepacked data operands, and so on. Conversely, the packed multiplyinstruction may not be operative to multiply data elements innon-corresponding or non-vertically aligned positions.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a processor 310 that isoperative to perform an embodiment of a data element comparisoninstruction 312. In some embodiments, the processor may be ageneral-purpose processor (e.g., a general-purpose microprocessor orcentral processing unit (CPU) of the type used in desktop, laptop, orother computers). Alternatively, the processor may be a special-purposeprocessor. Examples of suitable special-purpose processors include, butare not limited to, network processors, communications processors,cryptographic processors, graphics processors, co-processors, embeddedprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), and controllers (e.g.,microcontrollers). The processor may have any of various complexinstruction set computing (CISC) architectures, reduced instruction setcomputing (RISC) architectures, very long instruction word (VLIW)architectures, hybrid architectures, other types of architectures, orhave a combination of different architectures (e.g., different cores mayhave different architectures).

During operation, the processor 310 may receive the data elementcomparison instruction 312. For example, the instruction may be receivedfrom memory on a bus or other interconnect. The instruction mayrepresent a macroinstruction, assembly language instruction, machinecode instruction, or other instruction or control signal of aninstruction set of the processor. In some embodiments, the data elementcomparison instruction may explicitly specify (e.g., through one or morefields or a set of bits), or otherwise indicate (e.g., implicitlyindicate), a first source packed data operand 322, may specify orotherwise indicate a second source packed data operand 324, and mayspecify or otherwise indicate at least one destination storage location326 where a first result mask operand 328 and optionally a second resultmask operand 330 are to be stored. In some embodiments, there may be atleast four or at least eight data elements in each of the first andsecond source packed data operands. In some embodiments, the dataelements may represent indices corresponding to a CSR representation,although the scope of the invention is not so limited. As one example,the instruction may have source and/or destination operand specificationfields to specify registers, memory locations, or other storagelocations for the operands. Alternatively, one or more of these operandsmay optionally be implicit to the instruction (e.g., implicit to anopcode of the instruction).

Referring again to FIG. 3, in some embodiments, the first source packeddata operand 322 may optionally be stored in a first packed dataregister of a set of packed data registers 320, and the second sourcepacked data operand 324 may optionally be stored in a second packed dataregister of the set of packed data registers 320. Alternatively, memorylocations, or other storage locations, may optionally be used for one ormore of these operands. Each of the packed data registers may representan on-die storage location that is operative to store packed data,vector data, or Single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) data. Thepacked data registers may represent architecturally-visible orarchitectural registers that are visible to software and/or a programmerand/or are the registers indicated by instructions of the instructionset of the processor to identify operands. These architectural registersare contrasted to other non-architectural registers in a givenmicroarchitecture (e.g., temporary registers, reorder buffers,retirement registers, etc.). The packed data registers may beimplemented in different ways in different microarchitectures and arenot limited to any particular type of design. Examples of suitable typesof packed data registers include, but are not limited to, dedicatedphysical registers, dynamically allocated physical registers usingregister renaming, and combinations thereof. Specific examples ofsuitable packed data registers include, but are not limited to, thoseshown and described for FIG. 11.

Referring again to FIG. 3, in some embodiments, the processor mayoptionally include a set of packed data operation mask registers 332.Each of the packed data operation mask registers may represent an on-diestorage location that is operative to store at least one packed dataoperation mask. The packed data operation mask registers may representarchitecturally-visible or architectural registers that are visible tosoftware and/or a programmer and/or are the registers indicated byinstructions of the instruction set of the processor to identifyoperands. Examples of suitable types of packed data operation maskregisters include, but are not limited to, dedicated physical registers,dynamically allocated physical registers using register renaming, andcombinations thereof. Specific examples of suitable packed dataoperation mask registers include, but are not limited to, those shownand described for FIG. 10, and the mask or k-mask registers described atthe back of the application.

As further shown, in some embodiments, the one or more destinationstorage locations 326 may, optionally be one or more packed dataoperation mask registers in the set of packed data operation maskregisters 332. In some embodiments, as will be explained further below(e.g., in conjunction with FIG. 5), a first packed data operation maskregister may optionally be used to store the first result mask operand328, and a second different packed data operation mask register mayoptionally be used to store the second result mask operand 330. In otherembodiments, as will be explained further below (e.g., in conjunctionwith FIG. 6), a single packed data operation mask register mayoptionally be used to store both the first result mask operand 328 andthe second result mask operand 330. In still other embodiments, as willbe explained further below (e.g., in conjunction with FIG. 8), the firstresult mask operand 328 and the second result mask operand 330 mayinstead optionally be stored in a packed data register in the set ofpacked data registers 320. For example, the result mask operands may bestored in a different packed data register than those used to store thefirst and second source packed data operands. Alternatively, a packeddata register used for either the first source packed data operand orthe second source packed data operand may optionally be reused to storethe first and second result mask operands. For example, the instructionmay indicate a source/destination packed data register that mayimplicitly or impliedly be understood by the processor to be used bothinitially for a source packed data operand and subsequently to store theresult mask operands.

Referring again to FIG. 3, the processor includes a decode unit ordecoder 314. The decode unit may receive and decode the data elementcomparison instruction. The decode unit may output one or morerelatively lower-level instructions or control signals 316 (e.g., one ormore microinstructions, micro-operations, micro-code entry points,decoded instructions or control signals, etc.), which reflect,represent, and/or are derived from the relatively higher-level dataelement comparison instruction. In some embodiments, the decode unit mayinclude one or more input structures (e.g., port(s), interconnect(s), aninterface) to receive the data element comparison instruction, aninstruction recognition and decode logic coupled therewith to recognizeand decode the data element comparison instruction, and one or moreoutput structures (e.g., port(s), interconnect(s), an interface) coupledtherewith to output the lower-level instruction(s) or control signal(s).The decode unit may be implemented using various different mechanismsincluding, but not limited to, microcode read only memories (ROMs),look-up tables, hardware implementations, programmable logic arrays(PLAs), and other mechanisms suitable to implement decode units.

In some embodiments, instead of the data element comparison instructionbeing provided directly to the decode unit, an instruction emulator,translator, morpher, interpreter, or other instruction conversion modulemay optionally be used. Various types of instruction conversion modulesmay be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or a combinationthereof. In some embodiments, the instruction conversion module may belocated outside the processor, such as, for example, on a separate dieand/or in a memory (e.g., as a static, dynamic, or runtime emulationmodule). By way of example, the instruction conversion module mayreceive the data element comparison instruction, which may be of a firstinstruction set, and may emulate, translate, morph, interpret, orotherwise convert the data element comparison instruction into one ormore corresponding intermediate instructions or control signals, whichmay be of a second different instruction set. The one or moreintermediate instructions or control signals of the second instructionset may be provided to a decode unit (e.g., decode unit 314), which maydecode them into one or more lower-level instructions or control signalsexecutable by native hardware of the processor (e.g., one or moreexecution units).

Referring again to FIG. 3, the execution unit 318 is coupled with thedecode unit 314, the packed data registers 320, and optionally thepacked data operation mask registers 332 (e.g., when the result maskoperands 328, 330 are to be stored therein). The execution unit mayreceive the one or more decoded or otherwise converted instructions orcontrol signals 316 that represent and/or are derived from the dataelement comparison instruction. The execution unit may also receive thefirst source packed data operand 322 and the second source packed dataoperand 324. The execution unit may be operative in response to and/oras a result of the data element comparison instruction (e.g., inresponse to the one or more instructions or control signals decoded fromthe instruction) to store the first result mask operand 328 and theoptional second result mask operand 330 in the one or more destinationstorage locations 326 indicated by the instruction. In some embodiments,at least one result mask operand (e.g., the first result mask operand328) may include a different mask element for each corresponding dataelement in one of the first and second source packed data operands(e.g., the first source packed data operand 322) in a same relativeposition within the operands. In some embodiments, each mask element mayindicate whether the corresponding data element in the aforementionedone of the first and second source packed data operands (e.g., the firstresult mask operand 328) equals any of the data elements in the other ofthe first and second source packed data operands (e.g., the secondresult mask operand 330).

In some embodiments, the first result mask operand 328 may include adifferent mask element for each corresponding data element in the firstsource packed data operand 322 in a same relative position within theoperands, and each mask element of the first result mask operand 328 mayindicate whether the corresponding data element in the first sourcepacked data operand 322 equals any of the data elements in the secondsource packed data operand 324. In some embodiments, the second resultmask operand 330 may include a different mask element for eachcorresponding data element in the second source packed data operand 330in a same relative position within the operands, and each mask elementof the second result mask operand 330 may indicate whether thecorresponding data element in the second source packed data operand 324equals any of the data elements in the first source packed data operand322. In some embodiments, each mask element may be a single mask bit. Insome embodiments, the result may be any of those shown and described forFIGS. 5-8, although the scope of the invention is not so limited.

The execution unit and/or the processor may include specific orparticular logic (e.g., transistors, integrated circuitry, or otherhardware potentially combined with firmware (e.g., instructions storedin non-volatile memory) and/or software) that is operative to performthe data element comparison instruction and/or store the result inresponse to and/or as a result of the data element comparisoninstruction (e.g., in response to one or more instructions or controlsignals decoded from the data element comparison instruction). In someembodiments, the execution unit may include one or more input structures(e.g., port(s), interconnect(s), an interface) to receive sourceoperands, circuitry or logic coupled therewith to receive and processthe source operands and generate the result operands, and one or moreoutput structures (e.g., port(s), interconnect(s), an interface) coupledtherewith to output the result operands. In some embodiments, theexecution unit may optionally include comparison circuitry or logiccoupled with the data elements of the source operands by a fullyconnected crossbar where each data element in the first source packeddata operand may be compared with each data element in the second sourcepacked data operand so that an all element to all element comparison maybe performed. For example, if there are integer N elements in the firstsource packed data operand and integer M elements in the second sourcepacked data operand, then N*M comparisons may be performed, in someembodiments.

To avoid obscuring the description, a relatively simple processor 310has been shown and described. However, the processor may optionallyinclude other processor components. For example, various differentembodiments may include various different combinations andconfigurations of the components shown and described for any of FIGS.15-18. All of the components of the processor may be coupled together toallow them to operate as intended.

FIG. 4 is a block flow diagram of an embodiment of a method 436 ofperforming an embodiment of a data element comparison instruction. Invarious embodiments, the method may be performed by a processor,instruction processing apparatus, or other digital logic device. In someembodiments, the method 436 may be performed by and/or within theprocessor 310 of FIG. 3. The components, features, and specific optionaldetails described herein for the processor 310, also optionally apply tothe method 436. Alternatively, the method 436 may be performed by and/orwithin a similar or different processor or apparatus. Moreover, theprocessor 310 may perform methods that are similar to or different thanthe method 436.

The method includes receiving the data element comparison instruction,at block 437. In various aspects, the instruction may be received at aprocessor or a portion thereof (e.g., an instruction fetch unit, adecode unit, a bus interface unit, etc.). In various aspects, theinstruction may be received from an off-processor and/or off-die source(e.g., from memory, interconnect, etc.), or from an on-processor and/oron-die source (e.g., from an instruction cache, instruction queue,etc.). The data element comparison instruction may specify or otherwiseindicate a first source packed data operand including at least four dataelements, or in some cases at least eight or more data elements,indicate a second source packed data operand including at least fourdata elements, or in some cases at least eight or more data elements,and indicate one or more destination storage locations. In someembodiments, the data elements may represent indices corresponding to aCSR representation, although the scope of the invention is not solimited.

At least one result mask operand may be stored in the one or moredestination storage locations in response to and/or as a result of thedata element comparison instruction, at block 438. The at least oneresult mask operand may include a different mask element for eachcorresponding data element in one of the first and second source packeddata operands in a same relative position within the operands. Each maskelement may indicate whether the corresponding data element in theaforementioned one of the first and second source packed data operandsequals any of the data elements in the other of the first and secondsource packed data operands. In some embodiments, at least two resultmask operands are stored. In some embodiments, the two result maskoperands may be stored in a single mask register. In other embodiments,the two result mask operands may be stored in two different maskregisters. In still other embodiments, the two result mask operands maybe stored in a packed data operand, such as, for example, by storing abit of each of the first and second result mask operands in each dataelement of the packed data operand.

The illustrated method involves architectural operations (e.g., thosevisible from a software perspective). In other embodiments, the methodmay optionally include one or more microarchitectural operations. By wayof example, the instruction may be fetched, decoded, scheduledout-of-order, source operands may be accessed, an execution unit mayperform microarchitectural operations to implement the instruction, etc.In some embodiments, the microarchitectural operations to implement theinstruction may optionally include comparing each data element of thefirst source packed data operand with each data element of the secondsource packed data operand. In some embodiments, a crossbar basedhardware comparison logic may be used to perform these comparisons.

In some embodiments, the method may optionally be performed during or aspart of an algorithm to accelerate sparse vector-sparse vectorarithmetic (e.g., a sparse vector-sparse vector dot productcalculation), although the scope of the invention is not so limited. Insome embodiments, the result mask operands stored in response to theinstruction may be used to consolidate or collect together data elementsthat the result mask operands indicate are matching in the source packeddata operands. For example, in some embodiments, the result maskoperands may be indicated as a source operand of, and used by, a maskeddata element consolidation instruction. In other embodiments, the resultmask operand(s) may be minimally processed and then resulting resultmask operand(s) may be indicated as source operand(s) of, and used by,masked data element consolidation instruction(s).

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a first example embodiment of adata element comparison operation 540 that may be performed in responseto a first example embodiment of a data element comparison instruction.The instruction may specify or otherwise indicate a first source packeddata operand 522, and may specify or otherwise indicate a second sourcepacked data operand 524. These source operands may be stored in packeddata registers, memory locations, or other storage locations, aspreviously described.

In the illustrated embodiment, each of the first and second sourcepacked data operands is a 512-bit operand having sixteen 32-bit dataelements, although other sized operands, other sized data elements, andother numbers of data elements, may optionally be used in otherembodiments. Commonly, the number of data elements in each source packeddata operand may be equal to the size in bits of the source packed dataoperand divided by the size in bits of a single data element. In variousembodiments, the sizes of each of the source packed data operands may be64-bits, 128-bits, 256-bits, 512-bits, or 1024-bits, although the scopeof the invention is not so limited. In various embodiments, the size ofeach data element may be 8-bits, 16-bits, 32-bits, or 64-bits, althoughthe scope of the invention is not so limited. Other packed data operandsizes and data elements sizes are also suitable. In various embodiments,there may be at least four, at least eight, at least sixteen, at leastthirty-two, or more than thirty-two data elements (e.g., at least sixtyfour), in each of the source packed data operands. Often, the number ofdata elements in each of the first and second source packed dataoperands may be the same, although this is not required.

To further illustrate, a few illustrative examples of suitable alternateformats will be mentioned, although the scope of the invention is notlimited to just these formats. A first example format is a 128-bitpacked byte format that includes sixteen 8-bit data elements. A secondexample format is a 128-bit packed word format that includes eight16-bit data elements. A third example format is a 256-bit packed byteformat that includes thirty-two 8-bit data elements. A fourth exampleformat is a 256-bit packed word format that includes sixteen 16-bit dataelements. A fifth example format is a 256-bit packed doubleword formatthat includes eight 32-bit data elements. A sixth example format is a512-bit packed word format that includes thirty-two 16-bit dataelements. A seventh example format is a 512-bit packed doubleword formatthat includes sixteen 32-bit data elements. An eighth example format isa 512-bit packed quadword format that includes eight 64-bit dataelements.

As shown, in some embodiments, in response to the instruction and/oroperation, a first result mask operand 528 may be generated and storedin a first mask register 532-1 indicated by the instruction, and asecond result mask operand 530 may be generated and stored in a secondmask register 532-2 indicated by the instruction. In some embodiments,the first and second source packed data operands 522, 524 may be inputto an execution unit 518. The execution unit, responsive to theinstruction (e.g., as controlled by one or more instructions or controlsignals 516 decoded from the instruction), may generate and store theresult mask operands. In some embodiments, this may include theexecution unit comparing each data element in the first source packeddata operand with each data element in the second source packed dataoperand. For example, each of the sixteen data elements in the firstsource packed data operand may be compared with each of the sixteen dataelements in the second source packed data operand for a total of twohundred and fifty six comparisons.

Each result mask operand may correspond to a different one of the sourcepacked data operands. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, thefirst result mask operand may correspond to the first source packed dataoperand, and the second result mask operand may correspond to the secondsource packed data operand. In some embodiments, each result maskoperand may have the same number of mask elements as the number of dataelements in the corresponding source packed data operand. In theillustrated embodiments, each of the mask elements is a single bit. Asshown, the first result mask operand may have sixteen 1-bit maskelements each corresponding to a different one of the sixteen dataelements of the first source packed data operand in a same relativeposition within the operands, and the second result mask operand mayhave sixteen 1-bit mask elements each corresponding to a different oneof the sixteen data elements of the second source packed data operand ina same relative position within the operands. In the case of othernumbers of data elements in other embodiments, if a first source packeddata operand has N data elements, and a second source packed dataoperand has M data elements, then N*M comparisons may be performed, anda first N-bit result mask corresponding to the first source packed dataoperand may be stored, and a second M-bit result mask corresponding tothe second source packed data operand may be stored.

In some embodiments, each mask element may have a value (e.g., in thiscase a bit value) to indicate whether or not its corresponding sourcedata element (e.g., in the same relative position) in its correspondingsource packed data operand matched any of the source data elements inthe other non-corresponding source packed data operand. For example,each bit in the first result mask operand may have a bit value toindicate whether or not its corresponding data element (e.g., in thesame relative position) in the first source packed data operand matchedany of the data elements in the second source packed data operand,whereas each bit in the second result mask operand may have a bit valueto indicate whether or not its corresponding data element (e.g., in thesame relative position) in the second source packed data operand matchedany of the data elements in the first source packed data operand.According to one possible convention which is used in the illustratedembodiment, each mask bit that is set to binary one (i.e., 1) mayindicate that its corresponding data element in its corresponding sourcepacked data operand matches or equals at least one data element in theother non-corresponding source packed data operand. In contrast, eachmask bit that is cleared to binary zero (i.e., 0) may indicate that itscorresponding data element in its corresponding source packed dataoperand does not match or equal any of the data elements in the othernon-corresponding source packed data operand. The opposite convention isalso suitable for other embodiments.

For example, in the particular illustrated example embodiment the onlydata elements in the first source packed data operand that match orequal data elements in the second source packed data operand are thosewith the values of 3, 7, and 23. Considering the first source packeddata operand, the data element of value 3 is the second data elementposition from the left or least significant bit, the data element ofvalue 7 is the third data element position from the left or leastsignificant bit, and the data element of value 23 is the tenth dataelement position from the left or least significant bit.Correspondingly, in the first result mask operand, only the second,third, and tenth mask bits from the left or least significant end areset to binary one (i.e., 1) to indicate that the corresponding dataelements in the first source packed data operand match at least one dataelement in the second source packed data operand, whereas all othersbits are cleared to binary zero (i.e., 0) to indicate the correspondingdata elements in the first source packed data operand do not match anydata elements in the second source packed data operand.

Likewise, considering the second source packed data operand, the dataelement of value 3 is the first data element position from the left orleast significant bit, the data element of value 7 is the fourth dataelement position from the left or least significant bit, and the dataelement of value 23 is the ninth data element position from the left orleast significant bit. Correspondingly, in the second result maskoperand, only the first, fourth, and ninth mask bits from the left orleast significant end are set to binary one (i.e., 1) to indicate thatthe corresponding data elements in the second source packed data operandmatch at least one data element in the first source packed data operand,whereas all others bits are cleared to binary zero (i.e., 0) to indicatethe corresponding data elements in the second source packed data operanddo not match any data elements in the first source packed data operand.

In some embodiments, the first and second mask registers may representregisters of a set of architectural registers of a processor that are tobe used by masked packed data instructions of an instruction set of theprocessor to perform packed data operation masking, predication, orconditional control. For example, in some embodiments, the first andsecond mask registers may be registers in the set of packed dataoperation mask registers 322 of FIG. 3. The masked packed datainstructions may be operative to indicate (e.g., have a field toindicate) the mask registers as source operands to be used to mask,predicate, or conditionally control a packed data operation. In someembodiments, the masking, predication, or conditional control may beprovided at per-data element granularity so that operations on differentdata elements, or pairs of corresponding data elements, may be masked,predicated, or conditionally controlled separately and/or independentlyof the others. For example, each mask bit may have a first value toallow the operation to be performed and allow the corresponding resultdata element to be stored in the destination, or may have a seconddifferent value to not allow the operation to be performed and/or notallow the corresponding result data element to be stored in thedestination. According to one possible convention, a mask bit cleared tobinary zero (i.e., 0) may represent a masked out operation for which acorresponding operation isn't to be performed and/or a correspondingresult isn't to be stored, whereas a mask bit set to binary one(i.e., 1) may represent an unmasked operation for which a correspondingoperation is to be performed and a corresponding result is to be stored.The opposite convention is also possible.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, the first and second resultmask operands are stored in different mask registers (e.g., differentpacked data operation mask registers). One possible advantage, for someembodiments, is that each result mask operand and/or mask register maybe directly suitable for use as a source packed data operation maskoperand for a masked or predicated packed data instruction, such as amasked or predicated data element consolidation instruction (such as,for example, a VPCOMPRESS instruction), although the scope of theinvention is not limited to such a use. By way of example, two instancesof the masked or predicated data element consolidation instruction mayeach use a different one of the first and second result mask operands,substantially without any additional processing of the first and secondresult mask operands being needed, as a source mask, predicate, orconditional control operand for a data element consolidation operation.For example, the unmasked bits or mask elements of the result masks ormask registers may correspond to matching indices of CSR tuples thatwere compared and the masked or predicated data element consolidationinstruction may use these unmasked bits or mask elements to consolidatetogether the corresponding values of these CSR tuples. Further detailsof how such masked or predicated data element consolidation instructionsmay be used in this way will be discussed further below.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a second example embodiment of adata element comparison operation 640 that may be performed in responseto a second example embodiment of a data element comparison instruction.The operation 640 has certain similarities to the operation 540 of FIG.5. To avoid obscuring the description, the different and/or additionalcharacteristics for the operation 640 will primarily be described,without repeating all the optionally similar or common characteristicsand details relative to the operation 540. However, it is to beappreciated that the previously described characteristics and details ofthe operation 540, including the variations and alternate embodimentsthereof, may also optionally apply to the operation 640, unless statedotherwise or otherwise clearly apparent.

As in the embodiment of FIG. 6, the instruction may specify or otherwiseindicate a first source packed data operand 622, and may specify orotherwise indicate a second source packed data operand 624. The firstand second source packed data operands may be input to an execution unit618. The execution unit, responsive to the instruction (e.g., ascontrolled by one or more instructions or control signals 616 decodedfrom the instruction), may generate and store a first result maskoperand 628 and a second result mask operand 630.

One difference of the embodiment of FIG. 6, relative to the embodimentof FIG. 5, is that the first and second result mask operands are storedin a single mask register 632, instead of each being stored in adifferent mask register (e.g., the first mask register 532-1 and thesecond mask register 532-2). Specifically, the first result mask operand628 is stored in a least significant 16-bits of the single maskregister, and the second result mask operand 630 is stored in a nextadjacent 16-bits of the single mask register. Alternatively, thepositions of the first and second mask operands may optionally beswapped. In this case, a least significant portion of the single maskregister (e.g., the least significant 16-bits) corresponds to one of thesource packed data operands (e.g., in this case the first source packeddata operand), and a more significant portion of the single maskregister (e.g., the next more significant 16-bits) corresponds toanother one of the source packed data operands (e.g., in this case thesecond source packed data operand). In the illustration, the maskregister is shown as having only 32-bits, although in other embodimentsit may have fewer or more, such as, for example, 64-bits.

In some embodiments, the least significant first result mask operand maybe directly suitable for use as a source packed data operation maskoperand for a masked packed data instruction, such as a masked orpredicated data element consolidation instruction (e.g., such as, forexample, a VPCOMPRESS instruction), although the scope of the inventionis not limited to such a use. Moreover, a simple shift may be used toshift bits [16:31] of the mask register into bits [0:15] so that thesecond result mask operand may be directly suitable for use as a sourcepacked data operation mask operand for a masked packed data instruction,such as a masked or predicated data element consolidation instruction(e.g., such as, for example, a VPCOMPRESS instruction), although thescope of the invention is not limited to such a use.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a third example embodiment of adata element comparison operation 740 that may be performed in responseto a third example embodiment of a data element comparison instruction.The operation 740 has certain similarities to the operation 540 of FIG.5. To avoid obscuring the description, the different and/or additionalcharacteristics for the operation 740 will primarily be described,without repeating all the optionally similar or common characteristicsand details relative to the operation 540. However, it is to beappreciated that the previously described characteristics and details ofthe operation 540, including the variations and alternate embodimentsthereof, may also optionally apply to the operation 740, unless statedotherwise or otherwise clearly apparent.

As in the embodiment of FIG. 7, the instruction may specify or otherwiseindicate a first source packed data operand 722, and may specify orotherwise indicate a second source packed data operand 724. The firstand second source packed data operands may be input to an execution unit718. The execution unit, responsive to the instruction (e.g., ascontrolled by one or more instructions or control signals 716 decodedfrom the instruction), may generate and store a result.

One difference of the embodiment of FIG. 7, relative to the embodimentof FIG. 5, is that the execution unit 718 may only generate and store asingle result mask operand 728. In some embodiments, the single resultmask operand may be stored in a mask register (e.g., a packed dataoperation mask register). In some embodiments, the single result maskoperand may correspond to one of the first and second source packed dataoperands (e.g., in the illustrated example the first source packed dataoperand). In some embodiments, the result mask operand 728 and/or maskregister 732 may be directly suitable for use as a source packed dataoperation mask operand for a masked packed data instruction, such as amasked or predicated data element consolidation instruction (e.g., suchas, for example, a VPCOMPRESS instruction), although the scope of theinvention is not limited to such a use. A different instance of theinstruction (with the same opcode) may be performed again to generatethe result mask operand for the other source packed data operand.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a fourth example embodiment of adata element comparison operation 840 that may be performed in responseto a fourth example embodiment of a data element comparison instruction.The operation 840 has certain similarities to the operation 540 of FIG.5. To avoid obscuring the description, the different and/or additionalcharacteristics for the operation 840 will primarily be described,without repeating all the optionally similar or common characteristicsand details relative to the operation 540. However, it is to beappreciated that the previously described characteristics and details ofthe operation 540, including the variations and alternate embodimentsthereof, may also optionally apply to the operation 840, unless statedotherwise or otherwise clearly apparent.

As in the embodiment of FIG. 8, the instruction may specify or otherwiseindicate a first source packed data operand 822, and may specify orotherwise indicate a second source packed data operand 824. The firstand second source packed data operands may be input to an execution unit818. The execution unit, responsive to the instruction (e.g., ascontrolled by one or more instructions or control signals 816 decodedfrom the instruction), may generate and store a first result maskoperand 828 and a second result mask operand 830.

One difference of the embodiment of FIG. 8, relative to the embodimentof FIG. 5, is that the execution unit 818 may generate and store thefirst and second result mask operands 828, 830 in a result packed dataoperand 820. For example, the result packed data operand may be storedin a packed data register, memory location, or other storage location.In one embodiments, the result packed data operand or register may be a512-bit operand or register, although the scope of the invention is notso limited. Another difference is that the mask bits of the first andsecond result mask operands may be disposed within other non-mask bits.As shown, there may be two bits in each result data element in theresult packed data operand used as mask bits. One of these two bits ineach data element may be used for the first result mask operand, whereasthe other may be used for the second result mask operand. For example,the two least significant bits of each data element may optionally beused, the two most significant bits of each data element may optionallybe used, the least significant and the most significant bits mayoptionally be used, or some other set of bits may optionally be used. Inthe illustrated embodiment, the two least significant bits are used, andthe least significant bit of the two is used for the first mask operandwhile the more significant bit of the two is used for the second maskoperand, although this is not required.

The following pseudocode represents one example embodiment of a dataelement comparison instruction named VXBARCMPU:

VXBARCMPU{Q|DQ} VDEST, SRC1, SRC2 //Instruction generates 2 masks for nindices in each of SRC1 and SRC2 //VDEST, SRC1, and SRC2 are each apacked data register VDEST = 0; // initialize, VDEST holds the final2bit masks for i ← 1 to n // n=16 (Q) or 8 (DQ)  for j ← 1 to n // n=16(Q) or 8 (DQ)    bool match = (SRC1.element[i] == SRC2.element[j]) ? 1:0//n{circumflex over ( )}2    comparisons    VDEST.element[i].bit[0] =VDEST.element[i].bit[0] | match;    //bit0    VDEST.element[j].bit[1] =VDEST.element[j].bit[1] | match;    //bit1

In this pseudocode, Q represents a 32-bit quadword, whereas DQrepresents a 64-bit double quadword. The symbol “|” represents logicalOR. The term “match” represents comparison for equality, for example, ofintegers.

Now, in the embodiments of FIGS. 5-8, each of the bits in the resultmask operand provides a summary or cumulative indication of whether ornot its corresponding source data element matched any of the source dataelements in the other non-corresponding operand. Also, in theembodiments of FIGS. 5-8, each result mask operand has the same numberof mask bits as the number of data elements in its corresponding sourceoperand. As such, these mask bits are in a format that is generally wellsuited for use as a mask operand for a masked packed data instruction,such as a masked or predicated data element consolidation instruction(e.g., a masked VPCOMPRESS instruction).

An alternate possible approach would be to store a number ofper-comparison bits equal in number to the number of comparisons made.Each of these bits alone would not provide a summary or cumulativeindication of whether or not its corresponding source data elementmatched any of the source data elements in the other non-correspondingoperand. Rather, each of these per-comparison bits would correspond to asingle comparison performed between a different combination of a dataelement of the first source packed data operand and a data element ofthe second source packed data operand. For example, in the case of twosource packed data operands each having N data elements, N*N comparisonsmay be performed, and N*N result mask bits may be stored using thisalternate approach. For example, in the case of two sixteen data elementoperands, two hundred and fifty six may be performed, and a 256-bitresult mask may be stored, instead of just two 16-bit result masks.

However, one potential drawback with such an alternate approach is thatthe result mask operand may tend to be in a less useful and/or efficientformat for certain types of subsequent operations. For example, nosingle such per-comparison bit indicates whether or not a data elementin one source has a matching data element in the other source, withoutfurther processing. As such, these per-comparison result mask bits maynot, without further processing, be as well suited for use as a maskoperand for a masked packed data instruction, such as a masked orpredicated data element consolidation instruction (e.g., a maskedVPCOMPRESS instruction). In addition, the additional bits provided forall comparison results may tend to take up more interconnect bandwidth,register space, power, etc.

In contrast, each of the first and second result mask operands 528, 530and/or first and second mask registers 532-1, 532-2 may be directlyuseable as a source mask by a masked packed data instruction (e.g., amasked VPCOMPRESS instruction). Likewise, the first result mask operand628 may be directly useable as a source mask by a masked packed datainstruction (e.g., a masked VPCOMPRESS instruction), and the secondresult mask operand 630 may be easily made directly useable (e.g., by asimple 16-bit shift). Likewise, the result mask operand 728 and/or maskregister 732 may be directly useable as a source mask by a masked packeddata instruction (e.g., a masked VPCOMPRESS instruction).

In any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 3-8, in some embodiments, if itis fixed for the instruction (e.g., fixed or implicit to an opcode ofthe instruction), or can be otherwise assured, that the data elements ofthe source operands are each arranged in ascending order (e.g., as maybe the case when working with indices of CSR format data or when workingwith certain other types of data), certain comparisons may optionally beavoided. For example, comparisons may be avoided when it can be readilydetermined that none of the elements in the source packed data operandswould match. By way of example, logic may be included to test if eitherthe least significant data element in the first source packed dataoperand is greater than the most significant data element in the secondsource packed data operand or the most significant data element in thefirst source packed data operand is less than the least significant dataelement in the second source packed data operand and if either of theseis true to avoid comparing each data element of one source with eachdata element of the other source. On the one hand this may help toreduce power consumption, but is optional not required.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example of a masked data elementconsolidate operation 996 that may be performed in response to a maskeddata element consolidate instruction. One example of such an instructionsuitable for embodiments is a VPCOMRESSD instruction in x86, althoughthe use of this instruction is not required.

The masked data element consolidate instruction may indicate a sourcepacked data operand 997. In some embodiments, the source packed dataoperand may store data values that correspond to indices of a CSRformat. For example, the source packed data operand may store datavalues that correspond to indices of one of the first source packed dataoperands 522, 622, 722, or 822. With reference again to the sparsematrix of FIG. 1, the data value a3 corresponds to the index 3 of column3, the data value a7 corresponds to the index 7 of column 7, and so on.

The masked data element consolidate instruction may also indicate asource mask operands 928. In various embodiments, the source maskoperand may be the first result mask operand 528, the first result maskoperand 628, or the result mask operand 728. Alternatively, the resultpacked data operand 820 may be minimally processed to generate thesource mask operand 928.

The source packed data operand 997 and the source mask operand 928 maybe provided to an execution unit 918. The execution unit may beoperative in response to the instruction and/or operation to store theresult packed data operand 998. In some embodiments, theinstruction/operation may cause the execution unit to contiguously storeactive data elements in the source packed data operand 997, whichcorrespond to mask bits of the source mask operand 928 in same relativepositions that are set to binary one, to least significant data elementpositions of the result packed data operand. All remaining data elementsof the result packed data operand may be cleared to zero. As shown, thethree values a3, a7, and a23 of the source packed data operand, whichare the only three active values with corresponding set mask bits, maybe consolidated together in the three least significant data elementpositions of the result packed data operand, with all more significantresult data elements zeroed. In this case, the VPCOMRESSD instructionuses zeroing masking in which masked result data elements are zeroed.

Another instances of a masked data element consolidation instruction maysimilarly be performed to consolidate together the matching values b3,b7, and b23 in the three least significant data element positions ofanother result packed data operand. For example, the second result maskoperand 530 may be used along with the corresponding values from the CSRrepresentation of row 2 of the sparse matrix 100. By this approach, thematching or equaling data values of data represented in a CSR format maybe isolated, consolidated, and put into vertical SIMD alignment in samerelative positions in packed data operands. Such operations may berepeated until the vectors or rows of the sparse matrix end reach theirends. This may help to allow efficient vertical SIMD processing of thesematching data values. Advantageously, in one aspect, this may be used tohelp improve the performance of sparse vector-sparse vector arithmeticoperations.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of a suitable set ofpacked data operation mask registers 1032. In the illustratedembodiment, the set includes eight registers labeled k0 through k7.Alternate embodiments may include either fewer than eight registers(e.g., two, four, six, etc.), or more than eight registers (e.g.,sixteen, thirty-two, etc.). Each of these registers may be used to storea packed data operation mask. In the illustrated embodiment, each of theregisters is 64-bits. In alternate embodiments, the widths of theregisters may be either wider than 64-bits (e.g., 80-bits, 128-bits,etc.), or narrower than 64-bits (e.g., 8-bits, 16-bits, 32-bits, etc.).The registers may be implemented in different ways and are not limitedto any particular type of circuit or design. Examples of suitableregisters include, but are not limited to, dedicated physical registers,dynamically allocated physical registers using register renaming, andcombinations thereof.

In some embodiments, the packed data operation mask registers 1032 maybe a separate, dedicated set of architectural registers. In someembodiments, the instructions may encode or specify the packed dataoperation mask registers in different bits or one or more differentfields of an instruction format than those used to encode or specifyother types of registers (e.g., packed data registers). By way ofexample, an instruction may use three bits (e.g., a 3-bit field) toencode or specify any one of the eight packed data operation maskregisters k0 through k7. In alternate embodiments, either fewer or morebits may be used, respectively, when there are fewer or more packed dataoperation mask registers. In one particular implementation, only packeddata operation mask registers k1 through k7 (but not k0) may beaddressed as a predicate operand to predicate a masked packed dataoperation. The register k0 may be used as a regular source ordestination, but may not be encoded as a predicate operand (e.g., if k0is specified it has a “no mask” encoding), although this is notrequired.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of a suitable set ofpacked data registers 1120. The packed data registers include thirty-two512-bit packed data registers labeled ZMM0 through ZMM31. In theillustrated embodiment, the lower order 256-bits of the lower sixteenregisters, namely ZMM0-ZMM15, are aliased or overlaid on respective256-bit packed data registers labeled YMM0-YMM15, although this is notrequired. Likewise, in the illustrated embodiment, the lower order128-bits of the registers YMM0-YMM15 are aliased or overlaid onrespective 128-bit packed data registers labeled XMM0-XMM15, althoughthis also is not required. The 512-bit registers ZMM0 through ZMM31 areoperative to hold 512-bit packed data, 256-bit packed data, or 128-bitpacked data. The 256-bit registers YMM0-YMM15 are operative to hold256-bit packed data or 128-bit packed data. The 128-bit registersXMM0-XMM15 are operative to hold 128-bit packed data. In someembodiments, each of the registers may be used to store either packedfloating-point data or packed integer data. Different data element sizesare supported including at least 8-bit byte data, 16-bit word data,32-bit doubleword, 32-bit single-precision floating point data, 64-bitquadword, and 64-bit double-precision floating point data. In alternateembodiments, different numbers of registers and/or different sizes ofregisters may be used. In still other embodiments, registers may or maynot use aliasing of larger registers on smaller registers and/or may ormay not be used to store floating point data.

An instruction set includes one or more instruction formats. A giveninstruction format defines various fields (number of bits, location ofbits) to specify, among other things, the operation to be performed(opcode) and the operand(s) on which that operation is to be performed.Some instruction formats are further broken down though the definitionof instruction templates (or subformats). For example, the instructiontemplates of a given instruction format may be defined to have differentsubsets of the instruction format's fields (the included fields aretypically in the same order, but at least some have different bitpositions because there are less fields included) and/or defined to havea given field interpreted differently. Thus, each instruction of an ISAis expressed using a given instruction format (and, if defined, in agiven one of the instruction templates of that instruction format) andincludes fields for specifying the operation and the operands. Forexample, an exemplary ADD instruction has a specific opcode and aninstruction format that includes an opcode field to specify that opcodeand operand fields to select operands (source1/destination and source2);and an occurrence of this ADD instruction in an instruction stream willhave specific contents in the operand fields that select specificoperands. A set of SIMD extensions referred to the Advanced VectorExtensions (AVX) (AVX1 and AVX2) and using the Vector Extensions (VEX)coding scheme, has been, has been released and/or published (e.g., seeIntel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developers Manual, October2011; and see Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions Programming Reference,June 2011).

Exemplary Instruction Formats

Embodiments of the instruction(s) described herein may be embodied indifferent formats. Additionally, exemplary systems, architectures, andpipelines are detailed below. Embodiments of the instruction(s) may beexecuted on such systems, architectures, and pipelines, but are notlimited to those detailed.

VEX Instruction Format

VEX encoding allows instructions to have more than two operands, andallows SIMD vector registers to be longer than 128 bits. The use of aVEX prefix provides for three-operand (or more) syntax. For example,previous two-operand instructions performed operations such as A=A+B,which overwrites a source operand. The use of a VEX prefix enablesoperands to perform nondestructive operations such as A=B+C.

FIG. 12A illustrates an exemplary AVX instruction format including a VEXprefix 1202, real opcode field 1230, Mod R/M byte 1240, SIB byte 1250,displacement field 1262, and IMM8 1272. FIG. 12B illustrates whichfields from FIG. 12A make up a full opcode field 1274 and a baseoperation field 1242. FIG. 12C illustrates which fields from FIG. 12Amake up a register index field 1244.

VEX Prefix (Bytes 0-2) 1202 is encoded in a three-byte form. The firstbyte is the Format Field 1240 (VEX Byte 0, bits [7:0]), which containsan explicit C4 byte value (the unique value used for distinguishing theC4 instruction format). The second-third bytes (VEX Bytes 1-2) include anumber of bit fields providing specific capability. Specifically, REXfield 1205 (VEX Byte 1, bits [7-5]) consists of a VEX.R bit field (VEXByte 1, bit [7]—R), VEX.X bit field (VEX byte 1, bit [6]—X), and VEX.Bbit field (VEX byte 1, bit[5]—B). Other fields of the instructionsencode the lower three bits of the register indexes as is known in theart (rrr, xxx, and bbb), so that Rrrr, Xxxx, and Bbbb may be formed byadding VEX.R, VEX.X, and VEX.B. Opcode map field 1215 (VEX byte 1, bits[4:0]—mmmmm) includes content to encode an implied leading opcode byte.W Field 1264 (VEX byte 2, bit [7]—W)—is represented by the notationVEX.W, and provides different functions depending on the instruction.The role of VEX.vvvv 1220 (VEX Byte 2, bits [6:3]—vvvv) may include thefollowing: 1) VEX.vvvv encodes the first source register operand,specified in inverted (1s complement) form and is valid for instructionswith 2 or more source operands; 2) VEX.vvvv encodes the destinationregister operand, specified in 1s complement form for certain vectorshifts; or 3) VEX.vvvv does not encode any operand, the field isreserved and should contain 1211b. If VEX.L 1268 Size field (VEX byte 2,bit [2]—L)=0, it indicates 128 bit vector; if VEX.L=1, it indicates 256bit vector. Prefix encoding field 1225 (VEX byte 2, bits [1:0]—pp)provides additional bits for the base operation field.

Real Opcode Field 1230 (Byte 3) is also known as the opcode byte. Partof the opcode is specified in this field.

MOD R/M Field 1240 (Byte 4) includes MOD field 1242 (bits [7-6]), Regfield 1244 (bits [5-3]), and R/M field 1246 (bits [2-0]). The role ofReg field 1244 may include the following: encoding either thedestination register operand or a source register operand (the rrr ofRrrr), or be treated as an opcode extension and not used to encode anyinstruction operand. The role of R/M field 1246 may include thefollowing: encoding the instruction operand that references a memoryaddress, or encoding either the destination register operand or a sourceregister operand.

Scale, Index, Base (SIB)—The content of Scale field 1250 (Byte 5)includes SS1252 (bits [7-6]), which is used for memory addressgeneration. The contents of SIB.xxx 1254 (bits [5-3]) and SIB.bbb 1256(bits [2-0]) have been previously referred to with regard to theregister indexes Xxxx and Bbbb.

The Displacement Field 1262 and the immediate field (IMM8) 1272 containaddress data.

Generic Vector Friendly Instruction Format

A vector friendly instruction format is an instruction format that issuited for vector instructions (e.g., there are certain fields specificto vector operations). While embodiments are described in which bothvector and scalar operations are supported through the vector friendlyinstruction format, alternative embodiments use only vector operationsthe vector friendly instruction format.

FIGS. 13A-13B are block diagrams illustrating a generic vector friendlyinstruction format and instruction templates thereof according toembodiments of the invention. FIG. 13A is a block diagram illustrating ageneric vector friendly instruction format and class A instructiontemplates thereof according to embodiments of the invention; while FIG.13B is a block diagram illustrating the generic vector friendlyinstruction format and class B instruction templates thereof accordingto embodiments of the invention. Specifically, a generic vector friendlyinstruction format 1300 for which are defined class A and class Binstruction templates, both of which include no memory access 1305instruction templates and memory access 1320 instruction templates. Theterm generic in the context of the vector friendly instruction formatrefers to the instruction format not being tied to any specificinstruction set.

While embodiments of the invention will be described in which the vectorfriendly instruction format supports the following: a 64 byte vectoroperand length (or size) with 32 bit (4 byte) or 64 bit (8 byte) dataelement widths (or sizes) (and thus, a 64 byte vector consists of either16 doubleword-size elements or alternatively, 8 quadword-size elements);a 64 byte vector operand length (or size) with 16 bit (2 byte) or 8 bit(1 byte) data element widths (or sizes); a 32 byte vector operand length(or size) with 32 bit (4 byte), 64 bit (8 byte), 16 bit (2 byte), or 8bit (1 byte) data element widths (or sizes); and a 16 byte vectoroperand length (or size) with 32 bit (4 byte), 64 bit (8 byte), 16 bit(2 byte), or 8 bit (1 byte) data element widths (or sizes); alternativeembodiments may support more, less and/or different vector operand sizes(e.g., 256 byte vector operands) with more, less, or different dataelement widths (e.g., 128 bit (16 byte) data element widths).

The class A instruction templates in FIG. 13A include: 1) within the nomemory access 1305 instruction templates there is shown a no memoryaccess, full round control type operation 1310 instruction template anda no memory access, data transform type operation 1315 instructiontemplate; and 2) within the memory access 1320 instruction templatesthere is shown a memory access, temporal 1325 instruction template and amemory access, non-temporal 1330 instruction template. The class Binstruction templates in FIG. 13B include: 1) within the no memoryaccess 1305 instruction templates there is shown a no memory access,write mask control, partial round control type operation 1312instruction template and a no memory access, write mask control, vsizetype operation 1317 instruction template; and 2) within the memoryaccess 1320 instruction templates there is shown a memory access, writemask control 1327 instruction template.

The generic vector friendly instruction format 1300 includes thefollowing fields listed below in the order illustrated in FIGS. 13A-13B.

Format field 1340—a specific value (an instruction format identifiervalue) in this field uniquely identifies the vector friendly instructionformat, and thus occurrences of instructions in the vector friendlyinstruction format in instruction streams. As such, this field isoptional in the sense that it is not needed for an instruction set thathas only the generic vector friendly instruction format.

Base operation field 1342—its content distinguishes different baseoperations.

Register index field 1344—its content, directly or through addressgeneration, specifies the locations of the source and destinationoperands, be they in registers or in memory. These include a sufficientnumber of bits to select N registers from a P×Q (e.g. 32×512, 16×128,32×1024, 64×1024) register file. While in one embodiment N may be up tothree sources and one destination register, alternative embodiments maysupport more or less sources and destination registers (e.g., maysupport up to two sources where one of these sources also acts as thedestination, may support up to three sources where one of these sourcesalso acts as the destination, may support up to two sources and onedestination).

Modifier field 1346—its content distinguishes occurrences ofinstructions in the generic vector instruction format that specifymemory access from those that do not; that is, between no memory access1305 instruction templates and memory access 1320 instruction templates.Memory access operations read and/or write to the memory hierarchy (insome cases specifying the source and/or destination addresses usingvalues in registers), while non-memory access operations do not (e.g.,the source and destinations are registers). While in one embodiment thisfield also selects between three different ways to perform memoryaddress calculations, alternative embodiments may support more, less, ordifferent ways to perform memory address calculations.

Augmentation operation field 1350—its content distinguishes which one ofa variety of different operations to be performed in addition to thebase operation. This field is context specific. In one embodiment of theinvention, this field is divided into a class field 1368, an alpha field1352, and a beta field 1354. The augmentation operation field 1350allows common groups of operations to be performed in a singleinstruction rather than 2, 3, or 4 instructions.

Scale field 1360—its content allows for the scaling of the index field'scontent for memory address generation (e.g., for address generation thatuses 2^(scale)*index+base).

Displacement Field 1362A—its content is used as part of memory addressgeneration (e.g., for address generation that uses2^(scale)*index+base+displacement).

Displacement Factor Field 1362B (note that the juxtaposition ofdisplacement field 1362A directly over displacement factor field 1362Bindicates one or the other is used)—its content is used as part ofaddress generation; it specifies a displacement factor that is to bescaled by the size of a memory access (N)—where N is the number of bytesin the memory access (e.g., for address generation that uses2^(scale)*index+base+scaled displacement). Redundant low-order bits areignored and hence, the displacement factor field's content is multipliedby the memory operands total size (N) in order to generate the finaldisplacement to be used in calculating an effective address. The valueof N is determined by the processor hardware at runtime based on thefull opcode field 1374 (described later herein) and the datamanipulation field 1354C. The displacement field 1362A and thedisplacement factor field 1362B are optional in the sense that they arenot used for the no memory access 1305 instruction templates and/ordifferent embodiments may implement only one or none of the two.

Data element width field 1364—its content distinguishes which one of anumber of data element widths is to be used (in some embodiments for allinstructions; in other embodiments for only some of the instructions).This field is optional in the sense that it is not needed if only onedata element width is supported and/or data element widths are supportedusing some aspect of the opcodes.

Write mask field 1370—its content controls, on a per data elementposition basis, whether that data element position in the destinationvector operand reflects the result of the base operation andaugmentation operation. Class A instruction templates supportmerging-writemasking, while class B instruction templates support bothmerging- and zeroing-writemasking. When merging, vector masks allow anyset of elements in the destination to be protected from updates duringthe execution of any operation (specified by the base operation and theaugmentation operation); in other one embodiment, preserving the oldvalue of each element of the destination where the corresponding maskbit has a 0. In contrast, when zeroing vector masks allow any set ofelements in the destination to be zeroed during the execution of anyoperation (specified by the base operation and the augmentationoperation); in one embodiment, an element of the destination is set to 0when the corresponding mask bit has a 0 value. A subset of thisfunctionality is the ability to control the vector length of theoperation being performed (that is, the span of elements being modified,from the first to the last one); however, it is not necessary that theelements that are modified be consecutive. Thus, the write mask field1370 allows for partial vector operations, including loads, stores,arithmetic, logical, etc. While embodiments of the invention aredescribed in which the write mask field's 1370 content selects one of anumber of write mask registers that contains the write mask to be used(and thus the write mask field's 1370 content indirectly identifies thatmasking to be performed), alternative embodiments instead or additionalallow the mask write field's 1370 content to directly specify themasking to be performed.

Immediate field 1372—its content allows for the specification of animmediate. This field is optional in the sense that is it not present inan implementation of the generic vector friendly format that does notsupport immediate and it is not present in instructions that do not usean immediate.

Class field 1368—its content distinguishes between different classes ofinstructions. With reference to FIGS. 13A-B, the contents of this fieldselect between class A and class B instructions. In FIGS. 13A-B, roundedcorner squares are used to indicate a specific value is present in afield (e.g., class A 1368A and class B 1368B for the class field 1368respectively in FIGS. 13A-B).

Instruction Templates of Class A

In the case of the non-memory access 1305 instruction templates of classA, the alpha field 1352 is interpreted as an RS field 1352A, whosecontent distinguishes which one of the different augmentation operationtypes are to be performed (e.g., round 1352A.1 and data transform1352A.2 are respectively specified for the no memory access, round typeoperation 1310 and the no memory access, data transform type operation1315 instruction templates), while the beta field 1354 distinguisheswhich of the operations of the specified type is to be performed. In theno memory access 1305 instruction templates, the scale field 1360, thedisplacement field 1362A, and the displacement scale filed 1362B are notpresent.

No-Memory Access Instruction Templates—Full Round Control Type Operation

In the no memory access full round control type operation 1310instruction template, the beta field 1354 is interpreted as a roundcontrol field 1354A, whose content(s) provide static rounding. While inthe described embodiments of the invention the round control field 1354Aincludes a suppress all floating point exceptions (SAE) field 1356 and around operation control field 1358, alternative embodiments may supportmay encode both these concepts into the same field or only have one orthe other of these concepts/fields (e.g., may have only the roundoperation control field 1358).

SAE field 1356—its content distinguishes whether or not to disable theexception event reporting; when the SAE field's 1356 content indicatessuppression is enabled, a given instruction does not report any kind offloating-point exception flag and does not raise any floating pointexception handler.

Round operation control field 1358—its content distinguishes which oneof a group of rounding operations to perform (e.g., Round-up,Round-down, Round-towards-zero and Round-to-nearest). Thus, the roundoperation control field 1358 allows for the changing of the roundingmode on a per instruction basis. In one embodiment of the inventionwhere a processor includes a control register for specifying roundingmodes, the round operation control field's 1350 content overrides thatregister value.

No Memory Access Instruction Templates—Data Transform Type Operation

In the no memory access data transform type operation 1315 instructiontemplate, the beta field 1354 is interpreted as a data transform field1354B, whose content distinguishes which one of a number of datatransforms is to be performed (e.g., no data transform, swizzle,broadcast).

In the case of a memory access 1320 instruction template of class A, thealpha field 1352 is interpreted as an eviction hint field 1352B, whosecontent distinguishes which one of the eviction hints is to be used (inFIG. 13A, temporal 1352B.1 and non-temporal 1352B.2 are respectivelyspecified for the memory access, temporal 1325 instruction template andthe memory access, non-temporal 1330 instruction template), while thebeta field 1354 is interpreted as a data manipulation field 1354C, whosecontent distinguishes which one of a number of data manipulationoperations (also known as primitives) is to be performed (e.g., nomanipulation; broadcast; up conversion of a source; and down conversionof a destination). The memory access 1320 instruction templates includethe scale field 1360, and optionally the displacement field 1362A or thedisplacement scale field 1362B.

Vector memory instructions perform vector loads from and vector storesto memory, with conversion support. As with regular vector instructions,vector memory instructions transfer data from/to memory in a dataelement-wise fashion, with the elements that are actually transferred isdictated by the contents of the vector mask that is selected as thewrite mask.

Memory Access Instruction Templates—Temporal

Temporal data is data likely to be reused soon enough to benefit fromcaching. This is, however, a hint, and different processors mayimplement it in different ways, including ignoring the hint entirely.

Memory Access Instruction Templates—Non-Temporal

Non-temporal data is data unlikely to be reused soon enough to benefitfrom caching in the 1st-level cache and should be given priority foreviction. This is, however, a hint, and different processors mayimplement it in different ways, including ignoring the hint entirely.

Instruction Templates of Class B

In the case of the instruction templates of class B, the alpha field1352 is interpreted as a write mask control (Z) field 1352C, whosecontent distinguishes whether the write masking controlled by the writemask field 1370 should be a merging or a zeroing.

In the case of the non-memory access 1305 instruction templates of classB, part of the beta field 1354 is interpreted as an RL field 1357A,whose content distinguishes which one of the different augmentationoperation types are to be performed (e.g., round 1357A.1 and vectorlength (VSIZE) 1357A.2 are respectively specified for the no memoryaccess, write mask control, partial round control type operation 1312instruction template and the no memory access, write mask control, VSIZEtype operation 1317 instruction template), while the rest of the betafield 1354 distinguishes which of the operations of the specified typeis to be performed. In the no memory access 1305 instruction templates,the scale field 1360, the displacement field 1362A, and the displacementscale filed 1362B are not present.

In the no memory access, write mask control, partial round control typeoperation 1310 instruction template, the rest of the beta field 1354 isinterpreted as a round operation field 1359A and exception eventreporting is disabled (a given instruction does not report any kind offloating-point exception flag and does not raise any floating pointexception handler).

Round operation control field 1359A—just as round operation controlfield 1358, its content distinguishes which one of a group of roundingoperations to perform (e.g., Round-up, Round-down, Round-towards-zeroand Round-to-nearest). Thus, the round operation control field 1359Aallows for the changing of the rounding mode on a per instruction basis.In one embodiment of the invention where a processor includes a controlregister for specifying rounding modes, the round operation controlfield's 1350 content overrides that register value.

In the no memory access, write mask control, VSIZE type operation 1317instruction template, the rest of the beta field 1354 is interpreted asa vector length field 1359B, whose content distinguishes which one of anumber of data vector lengths is to be performed on (e.g., 128, 256, or512 byte).

In the case of a memory access 1320 instruction template of class B,part of the beta field 1354 is interpreted as a broadcast field 1357B,whose content distinguishes whether or not the broadcast type datamanipulation operation is to be performed, while the rest of the betafield 1354 is interpreted the vector length field 1359B. The memoryaccess 1320 instruction templates include the scale field 1360, andoptionally the displacement field 1362A or the displacement scale field1362B.

With regard to the generic vector friendly instruction format 1300, afull opcode field 1374 is shown including the format field 1340, thebase operation field 1342, and the data element width field 1364. Whileone embodiment is shown where the full opcode field 1374 includes all ofthese fields, the full opcode field 1374 includes less than all of thesefields in embodiments that do not support all of them. The full opcodefield 1374 provides the operation code (opcode).

The augmentation operation field 1350, the data element width field1364, and the write mask field 1370 allow these features to be specifiedon a per instruction basis in the generic vector friendly instructionformat.

The combination of write mask field and data element width field createtyped instructions in that they allow the mask to be applied based ondifferent data element widths.

The various instruction templates found within class A and class B arebeneficial in different situations. In some embodiments of theinvention, different processors or different cores within a processormay support only class A, only class B, or both classes. For instance, ahigh performance general purpose out-of-order core intended forgeneral-purpose computing may support only class B, a core intendedprimarily for graphics and/or scientific (throughput) computing maysupport only class A, and a core intended for both may support both (ofcourse, a core that has some mix of templates and instructions from bothclasses but not all templates and instructions from both classes iswithin the purview of the invention). Also, a single processor mayinclude multiple cores, all of which support the same class or in whichdifferent cores support different class. For instance, in a processorwith separate graphics and general purpose cores, one of the graphicscores intended primarily for graphics and/or scientific computing maysupport only class A, while one or more of the general purpose cores maybe high performance general purpose cores with out of order executionand register renaming intended for general-purpose computing thatsupport only class B. Another processor that does not have a separategraphics core, may include one more general purpose in-order orout-of-order cores that support both class A and class B. Of course,features from one class may also be implement in the other class indifferent embodiments of the invention. Programs written in a high levellanguage would be put (e.g., just in time compiled or staticallycompiled) into an variety of different executable forms, including: 1) aform having only instructions of the class(es) supported by the targetprocessor for execution; or 2) a form having alternative routineswritten using different combinations of the instructions of all classesand having control flow code that selects the routines to execute basedon the instructions supported by the processor which is currentlyexecuting the code.

Exemplary Specific Vector Friendly Instruction Format

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary specific vectorfriendly instruction format according to embodiments of the invention.FIG. 14 shows a specific vector friendly instruction format 1400 that isspecific in the sense that it specifies the location, size,interpretation, and order of the fields, as well as values for some ofthose fields. The specific vector friendly instruction format 1400 maybe used to extend the x86 instruction set, and thus some of the fieldsare similar or the same as those used in the existing x86 instructionset and extension thereof (e.g., AVX). This format remains consistentwith the prefix encoding field, real opcode byte field, MOD R/M field,SIB field, displacement field, and immediate fields of the existing x86instruction set with extensions. The fields from FIG. 13 into which thefields from FIG. 14 map are illustrated.

It should be understood that, although embodiments of the invention aredescribed with reference to the specific vector friendly instructionformat 1400 in the context of the generic vector friendly instructionformat 1300 for illustrative purposes, the invention is not limited tothe specific vector friendly instruction format 1400 except whereclaimed. For example, the generic vector friendly instruction format1300 contemplates a variety of possible sizes for the various fields,while the specific vector friendly instruction format 1400 is shown ashaving fields of specific sizes. By way of specific example, while thedata element width field 1364 is illustrated as a one bit field in thespecific vector friendly instruction format 1400, the invention is notso limited (that is, the generic vector friendly instruction format 1300contemplates other sizes of the data element width field 1364).

The generic vector friendly instruction format 1300 includes thefollowing fields listed below in the order illustrated in FIG. 14A.

EVEX Prefix (Bytes 0-3) 1402—is encoded in a four-byte form.

Format Field 1340 (EVEX Byte 0, bits [7:0])—the first byte (EVEX Byte 0)is the format field 1340 and it contains 0x62 (the unique value used fordistinguishing the vector friendly instruction format in one embodimentof the invention).

The second-fourth bytes (EVEX Bytes 1-3) include a number of bit fieldsproviding specific capability.

REX field 1405 (EVEX Byte 1, bits [7-5])—consists of a EVEX.R bit field(EVEX Byte 1, bit [7]—R), EVEX.X bit field (EVEX byte 1, bit [6]—X), and1357BEX byte 1, bit[5]—B). The EVEX.R, EVEX.X, and EVEX.B bit fieldsprovide the same functionality as the corresponding VEX bit fields, andare encoded using is complement form, i.e. ZMM0 is encoded as 1211B,ZMM15 is encoded as 0000B. Other fields of the instructions encode thelower three bits of the register indexes as is known in the art (rrr,xxx, and bbb), so that Rrrr, Xxxx, and Bbbb may be formed by addingEVEX.R, EVEX.X, and EVEX.B.

REX′ field 1310—this is the first part of the REX′ field 1310 and is theEVEX.R′ bit field (EVEX Byte 1, bit [4]—R′) that is used to encodeeither the upper 16 or lower 16 of the extended 32 register set. In oneembodiment of the invention, this bit, along with others as indicatedbelow, is stored in bit inverted format to distinguish (in thewell-known x86 32-bit mode) from the BOUND instruction, whose realopcode byte is 62, but does not accept in the MOD R/M field (describedbelow) the value of 11 in the MOD field; alternative embodiments of theinvention do not store this and the other indicated bits below in theinverted format. A value of 1 is used to encode the lower 16 registers.In other words, R′Rrrr is formed by combining EVEX.R′, EVEX.R, and theother RRR from other fields.

Opcode map field 1415 (EVEX byte 1, bits [3:0]—mmmm)—its content encodesan implied leading opcode byte (0F, 0F 38, or 0F 3).

Data element width field 1364 (EVEX byte 2, bit [7]—W)—is represented bythe notation EVEX.W. EVEX.W is used to define the granularity (size) ofthe datatype (either 32-bit data elements or 64-bit data elements).

EVEX.vvvv 1420 (EVEX Byte 2, bits [6:3]—vvvv)—the role of EVEX.vvvv mayinclude the following: 1) EVEX.vvvv encodes the first source registeroperand, specified in inverted (1s complement) form and is valid forinstructions with 2 or more source operands; 2) EVEX.vvvv encodes thedestination register operand, specified in 1s complement form forcertain vector shifts; or 3) EVEX.vvvv does not encode any operand, thefield is reserved and should contain 1211b. Thus, EVEX.vvvv field 1420encodes the 4 low-order bits of the first source register specifierstored in inverted (1s complement) form. Depending on the instruction,an extra different EVEX bit field is used to extend the specifier sizeto 32 registers.

EVEX.U 1368 Class field (EVEX byte 2, bit [2]—U)—If EVEX.U=0, itindicates class A or EVEX.U0; if EVEX.U=1, it indicates class B orEVEX.U1.

Prefix encoding field 1425 (EVEX byte 2, bits [1:0]—pp)—providesadditional bits for the base operation field. In addition to providingsupport for the legacy SSE instructions in the EVEX prefix format, thisalso has the benefit of compacting the SIMD prefix (rather thanrequiring a byte to express the SIMD prefix, the EVEX prefix requiresonly 2 bits). In one embodiment, to support legacy SSE instructions thatuse a SIMD prefix (66H, F2H, F3H) in both the legacy format and in theEVEX prefix format, these legacy SIMD prefixes are encoded into the SIMDprefix encoding field; and at runtime are expanded into the legacy SIMDprefix prior to being provided to the decoder's PLA (so the PLA canexecute both the legacy and EVEX format of these legacy instructionswithout modification). Although newer instructions could use the EVEXprefix encoding field's content directly as an opcode extension, certainembodiments expand in a similar fashion for consistency but allow fordifferent meanings to be specified by these legacy SIMD prefixes. Analternative embodiment may redesign the PLA to support the 2 bit SIMDprefix encodings, and thus not require the expansion.

Alpha field 1352 (EVEX byte 3, bit [7]—EH; also known as EVEX.EH,EVEX.rs, EVEX.RL, EVEX.write mask control, and EVEX.N; also illustratedwith a)—as previously described, this field is context specific.

Beta field 1354 (EVEX byte 3, bits [6:4]—SSS, also known as EVEX.s₂₋₀,EVEX.r₂₋₀, EVEX.rr1, EVEX.LL0, EVEX.LLB; also illustrated with βββ)—aspreviously described, this field is context specific.

REX′ field 1310—this is the remainder of the REX′ field and is theEVEX.V′ bit field (EVEX Byte 3, bit [3]—V′) that may be used to encodeeither the upper 16 or lower 16 of the extended 32 register set. Thisbit is stored in bit inverted format. A value of 1 is used to encode thelower 16 registers. In other words, V′VVVV is formed by combiningEVEX.V′, EVEX.vvvv.

Write mask field 1370 (EVEX byte 3, bits [2:0]—kkk)—its contentspecifies the index of a register in the write mask registers aspreviously described. In one embodiment of the invention, the specificvalue EVEX.kkk=000 has a special behavior implying no write mask is usedfor the particular instruction (this may be implemented in a variety ofways including the use of a write mask hardwired to all ones or hardwarethat bypasses the masking hardware).

Real Opcode Field 1430 (Byte 4) is also known as the opcode byte. Partof the opcode is specified in this field.

MOD R/M Field 1440 (Byte 5) includes MOD field 1442, Reg field 1444, andR/M field 1446. As previously described, the MOD field's 1442 contentdistinguishes between memory access and non-memory access operations.The role of Reg field 1444 can be summarized to two situations: encodingeither the destination register operand or a source register operand, orbe treated as an opcode extension and not used to encode any instructionoperand. The role of R/M field 1446 may include the following: encodingthe instruction operand that references a memory address, or encodingeither the destination register operand or a source register operand.

Scale, Index, Base (SIB) Byte (Byte 6)—As previously described, thescale field's 1350 content is used for memory address generation.SIB.xxx 1454 and SIB.bbb 1456—the contents of these fields have beenpreviously referred to with regard to the register indexes Xxxx andBbbb.

Displacement field 1362A (Bytes 7-10)—when MOD field 1442 contains 10,bytes 7-10 are the displacement field 1362A, and it works the same asthe legacy 32-bit displacement (disp32) and works at byte granularity.

Displacement factor field 1362B (Byte 7)—when MOD field 1442 contains01, byte 7 is the displacement factor field 1362B. The location of thisfield is that same as that of the legacy x86 instruction set 8-bitdisplacement (disp8), which works at byte granularity. Since disp8 issign extended, it can only address between −128 and 137 bytes offsets;in terms of 64 byte cache lines, disp8 uses 8 bits that can be set toonly four really useful values −128, −64, 0, and 64; since a greaterrange is often needed, disp32 is used; however, disp32 requires 4 bytes.In contrast to disp8 and disp32, the displacement factor field 1362B isa reinterpretation of disp8; when using displacement factor field 1362B,the actual displacement is determined by the content of the displacementfactor field multiplied by the size of the memory operand access (N).This type of displacement is referred to as disp8*N. This reduces theaverage instruction length (a single byte of used for the displacementbut with a much greater range). Such compressed displacement is based onthe assumption that the effective displacement is multiple of thegranularity of the memory access, and hence, the redundant low-orderbits of the address offset do not need to be encoded. In other words,the displacement factor field 1362B substitutes the legacy x86instruction set 8-bit displacement. Thus, the displacement factor field1362B is encoded the same way as an x86 instruction set 8-bitdisplacement (so no changes in the ModRM/SIB encoding rules) with theonly exception that disp8 is overloaded to disp8*N. In other words,there are no changes in the encoding rules or encoding lengths but onlyin the interpretation of the displacement value by hardware (which needsto scale the displacement by the size of the memory operand to obtain abyte-wise address offset).

Immediate field 1372 operates as previously described.

Full Opcode Field

FIG. 14B is a block diagram illustrating the fields of the specificvector friendly instruction format 1400 that make up the full opcodefield 1374 according to one embodiment of the invention. Specifically,the full opcode field 1374 includes the format field 1340, the baseoperation field 1342, and the data element width (W) field 1364. Thebase operation field 1342 includes the prefix encoding field 1425, theopcode map field 1415, and the real opcode field 1430.

Register Index Field

FIG. 14C is a block diagram illustrating the fields of the specificvector friendly instruction format 1400 that make up the register indexfield 1344 according to one embodiment of the invention. Specifically,the register index field 1344 includes the REX field 1405, the REX′field 1410, the MODR/M.reg field 1444, the MODR/M.r/m field 1446, theVVVV field 1420, xxx field 1454, and the bbb field 1456.

Augmentation Operation Field

FIG. 14D is a block diagram illustrating the fields of the specificvector friendly instruction format 1400 that make up the augmentationoperation field 1350 according to one embodiment of the invention. Whenthe class (U) field 1368 contains 0, it signifies EVEX.U0 (class A1368A); when it contains 1, it signifies EVEX.U1 (class B 1368B). WhenU=0 and the MOD field 1442 contains 11 (signifying a no memory accessoperation), the alpha field 1352 (EVEX byte 3, bit [7]—EH) isinterpreted as the rs field 1352A. When the rs field 1352A contains a 1(round 1352A.1), the beta field 1354 (EVEX byte 3, bits [6:4]—SSS) isinterpreted as the round control field 1354A. The round control field1354A includes a one bit SAE field 1356 and a two bit round operationfield 1358. When the rs field 1352A contains a 0 (data transform1352A.2), the beta field 1354 (EVEX byte 3, bits [6:4]—SSS) isinterpreted as a three bit data transform field 1354B. When U=0 and theMOD field 1442 contains 00, 01, or 10 (signifying a memory accessoperation), the alpha field 1352 (EVEX byte 3, bit [7]—EH) isinterpreted as the eviction hint (EH) field 1352B and the beta field1354 (EVEX byte 3, bits [6:4]—SSS) is interpreted as a three bit datamanipulation field 1354C.

When U=1, the alpha field 1352 (EVEX byte 3, bit [7]—EH) is interpretedas the write mask control (Z) field 1352C. When U=1 and the MOD field1442 contains 11 (signifying a no memory access operation), part of thebeta field 1354 (EVEX byte 3, bit [4]—S₀) is interpreted as the RL field1357A; when it contains a 1 (round 1357A.1) the rest of the beta field1354 (EVEX byte 3, bit [6-5]—S₂₋₁) is interpreted as the round operationfield 1359A, while when the RL field 1357A contains a 0 (VSIZE 1357.A2)the rest of the beta field 1354 (EVEX byte 3, bit [6-5]—S₂₋₁) isinterpreted as the vector length field 1359B (EVEX byte 3, bit[6-5]—L₁₋₀). When U=1 and the MOD field 1442 contains 00, 01, or 10(signifying a memory access operation), the beta field 1354 (EVEX byte3, bits [6:4]—SSS) is interpreted as the vector length field 1359B (EVEXbyte 3, bit [6-5]—L₁₋₀) and the broadcast field 1357B (EVEX byte 3, bit[4]—B).

Exemplary Register Architecture

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a register architecture 1500 according toone embodiment of the invention. In the embodiment illustrated, thereare 32 vector registers 1510 that are 512 bits wide; these registers arereferenced as zmm0 through zmm31. The lower order 256 bits of the lower16 zmm registers are overlaid on registers ymm0-16. The lower order 128bits of the lower 16 zmm registers (the lower order 128 bits of the ymmregisters) are overlaid on registers xmm0-15. The specific vectorfriendly instruction format 1400 operates on these overlaid registerfile as illustrated in the below tables.

Adjustable Vector Length Class Operations Registers InstructionTemplates A (FIG. 1310, 1315, zmm registers (the vector length is 64that do not include the 13A; 1325, 1330 byte) vector length field U = 0)1359B B (FIG. 1312 zmm registers (the vector length is 64 13B; byte) U= 1) Instruction templates that B (FIG. 1317, 1327 zmm, ymm, or xmmregisters (the do include the vector 13B; vector length is 64 byte, 32byte, or length field 1359B U = 1) 16 byte) depending on the vectorlength field 1359B

In other words, the vector length field 1359B selects between a maximumlength and one or more other shorter lengths, where each such shorterlength is half the length of the preceding length; and instructionstemplates without the vector length field 1359B operate on the maximumvector length. Further, in one embodiment, the class B instructiontemplates of the specific vector friendly instruction format 1400operate on packed or scalar single/double-precision floating point dataand packed or scalar integer data. Scalar operations are operationsperformed on the lowest order data element position in an zmm/ymm/xmmregister; the higher order data element positions are either left thesame as they were prior to the instruction or zeroed depending on theembodiment.

Write mask registers 1515—in the embodiment illustrated, there are 8write mask registers (k0 through k7), each 64 bits in size. In analternate embodiment, the write mask registers 1515 are 16 bits in size.As previously described, in one embodiment of the invention, the vectormask register k0 cannot be used as a write mask; when the encoding thatwould normally indicate k0 is used for a write mask, it selects ahardwired write mask of 0xFFFF, effectively disabling write masking forthat instruction.

General-purpose registers 1525—in the embodiment illustrated, there aresixteen 64-bit general-purpose registers that are used along with theexisting x86 addressing modes to address memory operands. Theseregisters are referenced by the names RAX, RBX, RCX, RDX, RBP, RSI, RDI,RSP, and R8 through R15.

Scalar floating point stack register file (x87 stack) 1545, on which isaliased the MMX packed integer flat register file 1550—in the embodimentillustrated, the x87 stack is an eight-element stack used to performscalar floating-point operations on 32/64/80-bit floating point datausing the x87 instruction set extension; while the MMX registers areused to perform operations on 64-bit packed integer data, as well as tohold operands for some operations performed between the MMX and XMMregisters.

Alternative embodiments of the invention may use wider or narrowerregisters. Additionally, alternative embodiments of the invention mayuse more, less, or different register files and registers.

Exemplary Core Architectures, Processors, and Computer Architectures

Processor cores may be implemented in different ways, for differentpurposes, and in different processors. For instance, implementations ofsuch cores may include: 1) a general purpose in-order core intended forgeneral-purpose computing; 2) a high performance general purposeout-of-order core intended for general-purpose computing; 3) a specialpurpose core intended primarily for graphics and/or scientific(throughput) computing. Implementations of different processors mayinclude: 1) a CPU including one or more general purpose in-order coresintended for general-purpose computing and/or one or more generalpurpose out-of-order cores intended for general-purpose computing; and2) a coprocessor including one or more special purpose cores intendedprimarily for graphics and/or scientific (throughput). Such differentprocessors lead to different computer system architectures, which mayinclude: 1) the coprocessor on a separate chip from the CPU; 2) thecoprocessor on a separate die in the same package as a CPU; 3) thecoprocessor on the same die as a CPU (in which case, such a coprocessoris sometimes referred to as special purpose logic, such as integratedgraphics and/or scientific (throughput) logic, or as special purposecores); and 4) a system on a chip that may include on the same die thedescribed CPU (sometimes referred to as the application core(s) orapplication processor(s)), the above described coprocessor, andadditional functionality. Exemplary core architectures are describednext, followed by descriptions of exemplary processors and computerarchitectures.

Exemplary Core Architectures

In-Order and Out-of-Order Core Block Diagram

FIG. 16A is a block diagram illustrating both an exemplary in-orderpipeline and an exemplary register renaming, out-of-orderissue/execution pipeline according to embodiments of the invention. FIG.16B is a block diagram illustrating both an exemplary embodiment of anin-order architecture core and an exemplary register renaming,out-of-order issue/execution architecture core to be included in aprocessor according to embodiments of the invention. The solid linedboxes in FIGS. 16A-B illustrate the in-order pipeline and in-order core,while the optional addition of the dashed lined boxes illustrates theregister renaming, out-of-order issue/execution pipeline and core. Giventhat the in-order aspect is a subset of the out-of-order aspect, theout-of-order aspect will be described.

In FIG. 16A, a processor pipeline 1600 includes a fetch stage 1602, alength decode stage 1604, a decode stage 1606, an allocation stage 1608,a renaming stage 1610, a scheduling (also known as a dispatch or issue)stage 1612, a register read/memory read stage 1614, an execute stage1616, a write back/memory write stage 1618, an exception handling stage1622, and a commit stage 1624.

FIG. 16B shows processor core 1690 including a front end unit 1630coupled to an execution engine unit 1650, and both are coupled to amemory unit 1670. The core 1690 may be a reduced instruction setcomputing (RISC) core, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) core,a very long instruction word (VLIW) core, or a hybrid or alternativecore type. As yet another option, the core 1690 may be a special-purposecore, such as, for example, a network or communication core, compressionengine, coprocessor core, general purpose computing graphics processingunit (GPGPU) core, graphics core, or the like.

The front end unit 1630 includes a branch prediction unit 1632 coupledto an instruction cache unit 1634, which is coupled to an instructiontranslation lookaside buffer (TLB) 1636, which is coupled to aninstruction fetch unit 1638, which is coupled to a decode unit 1640. Thedecode unit 1640 (or decoder) may decode instructions, and generate asan output one or more micro-operations, micro-code entry points,microinstructions, other instructions, or other control signals, whichare decoded from, or which otherwise reflect, or are derived from, theoriginal instructions. The decode unit 1640 may be implemented usingvarious different mechanisms. Examples of suitable mechanisms include,but are not limited to, look-up tables, hardware implementations,programmable logic arrays (PLAs), microcode read only memories (ROMs),etc. In one embodiment, the core 1690 includes a microcode ROM or othermedium that stores microcode for certain macroinstructions (e.g., indecode unit 1640 or otherwise within the front end unit 1630). Thedecode unit 1640 is coupled to a rename/allocator unit 1652 in theexecution engine unit 1650.

The execution engine unit 1650 includes the rename/allocator unit 1652coupled to a retirement unit 1654 and a set of one or more schedulerunit(s) 1656. The scheduler unit(s) 1656 represents any number ofdifferent schedulers, including reservations stations, centralinstruction window, etc. The scheduler unit(s) 1656 is coupled to thephysical register file(s) unit(s) 1658. Each of the physical registerfile(s) units 1658 represents one or more physical register files,different ones of which store one or more different data types, such asscalar integer, scalar floating point, packed integer, packed floatingpoint, vector integer, vector floating point—status (e.g., aninstruction pointer that is the address of the next instruction to beexecuted), etc. In one embodiment, the physical register file(s) unit1658 comprises a vector registers unit, a write mask registers unit, anda scalar registers unit. These register units may provide architecturalvector registers, vector mask registers, and general purpose registers.The physical register file(s) unit(s) 1658 is overlapped by theretirement unit 1654 to illustrate various ways in which registerrenaming and out-of-order execution may be implemented (e.g., using areorder buffer(s) and a retirement register file(s); using a futurefile(s), a history buffer(s), and a retirement register file(s); using aregister maps and a pool of registers; etc.). The retirement unit 1654and the physical register file(s) unit(s) 1658 are coupled to theexecution cluster(s) 1660. The execution cluster(s) 1660 includes a setof one or more execution units 1662 and a set of one or more memoryaccess units 1664. The execution units 1662 may perform variousoperations (e.g., shifts, addition, subtraction, multiplication) and onvarious types of data (e.g., scalar floating point, packed integer,packed floating point, vector integer, vector floating point). Whilesome embodiments may include a number of execution units dedicated tospecific functions or sets of functions, other embodiments may includeonly one execution unit or multiple execution units that all perform allfunctions. The scheduler unit(s) 1656, physical register file(s) unit(s)1658, and execution cluster(s) 1660 are shown as being possibly pluralbecause certain embodiments create separate pipelines for certain typesof data/operations (e.g., a scalar integer pipeline, a scalar floatingpoint/packed integer/packed floating point/vector integer/vectorfloating point pipeline, and/or a memory access pipeline that each havetheir own scheduler unit, physical register file(s) unit, and/orexecution cluster—and in the case of a separate memory access pipeline,certain embodiments are implemented in which only the execution clusterof this pipeline has the memory access unit(s) 1664). It should also beunderstood that where separate pipelines are used, one or more of thesepipelines may be out-of-order issue/execution and the rest in-order.

The set of memory access units 1664 is coupled to the memory unit 1670,which includes a data TLB unit 1672 coupled to a data cache unit 1674coupled to a level 2 (L2) cache unit 1676. In one exemplary embodiment,the memory access units 1664 may include a load unit, a store addressunit, and a store data unit, each of which is coupled to the data TLBunit 1672 in the memory unit 1670. The instruction cache unit 1634 isfurther coupled to a level 2 (L2) cache unit 1676 in the memory unit1670. The L2 cache unit 1676 is coupled to one or more other levels ofcache and eventually to a main memory.

By way of example, the exemplary register renaming, out-of-orderissue/execution core architecture may implement the pipeline 1600 asfollows: 1) the instruction fetch 1638 performs the fetch and lengthdecoding stages 1602 and 1604; 2) the decode unit 1640 performs thedecode stage 1606; 3) the rename/allocator unit 1652 performs theallocation stage 1608 and renaming stage 1610; 4) the scheduler unit(s)1656 performs the schedule stage 1612; 5) the physical register file(s)unit(s) 1658 and the memory unit 1670 perform the register read/memoryread stage 1614; the execution cluster 1660 perform the execute stage1616; 6) the memory unit 1670 and the physical register file(s) unit(s)1658 perform the write back/memory write stage 1618; 7) various unitsmay be involved in the exception handling stage 1622; and 8) theretirement unit 1654 and the physical register file(s) unit(s) 1658perform the commit stage 1624.

The core 1690 may support one or more instructions sets (e.g., the x86instruction set (with some extensions that have been added with newerversions); the MIPS instruction set of MIPS Technologies of Sunnyvale,Calif.; the ARM instruction set (with optional additional extensionssuch as NEON) of ARM Holdings of Sunnyvale, Calif.), including theinstruction(s) described herein. In one embodiment, the core 1690includes logic to support a packed data instruction set extension (e.g.,AVX1, AVX2), thereby allowing the operations used by many multimediaapplications to be performed using packed data.

It should be understood that the core may support multithreading(executing two or more parallel sets of operations or threads), and maydo so in a variety of ways including time sliced multithreading,simultaneous multithreading (where a single physical core provides alogical core for each of the threads that physical core issimultaneously multithreading), or a combination thereof (e.g., timesliced fetching and decoding and simultaneous multithreading thereaftersuch as in the Intel® Hyperthreading technology).

While register renaming is described in the context of out-of-orderexecution, it should be understood that register renaming may be used inan in-order architecture. While the illustrated embodiment of theprocessor also includes separate instruction and data cache units1634/1674 and a shared L2 cache unit 1676, alternative embodiments mayhave a single internal cache for both instructions and data, such as,for example, a Level 1 (L1) internal cache, or multiple levels ofinternal cache. In some embodiments, the system may include acombination of an internal cache and an external cache that is externalto the core and/or the processor. Alternatively, all of the cache may beexternal to the core and/or the processor.

Specific Exemplary in-Order Core Architecture

FIGS. 17A-B illustrate a block diagram of a more specific exemplaryin-order core architecture, which core would be one of several logicblocks (including other cores of the same type and/or different types)in a chip. The logic blocks communicate through a high-bandwidthinterconnect network (e.g., a ring network) with some fixed functionlogic, memory I/O interfaces, and other necessary I/O logic, dependingon the application.

FIG. 17A is a block diagram of a single processor core, along with itsconnection to the on-die interconnect network 1702 and with its localsubset of the Level 2 (L2) cache 1704, according to embodiments of theinvention. In one embodiment, an instruction decoder 1700 supports thex86 instruction set with a packed data instruction set extension. An L1cache 1706 allows low-latency accesses to cache memory into the scalarand vector units. While in one embodiment (to simplify the design), ascalar unit 1708 and a vector unit 1710 use separate register sets(respectively, scalar registers 11712 and vector registers 1714) anddata transferred between them is written to memory and then read back infrom a level 1 (L1) cache 1706, alternative embodiments of the inventionmay use a different approach (e.g., use a single register set or includea communication path that allow data to be transferred between the tworegister files without being written and read back).

The local subset of the L2 cache 1704 is part of a global L2 cache thatis divided into separate local subsets, one per processor core. Eachprocessor core has a direct access path to its own local subset of theL2 cache 1704. Data read by a processor core is stored in its L2 cachesubset 1704 and can be accessed quickly, in parallel with otherprocessor cores accessing their own local L2 cache subsets. Data writtenby a processor core is stored in its own L2 cache subset 1704 and isflushed from other subsets, if necessary. The ring network ensurescoherency for shared data. The ring network is bi-directional to allowagents such as processor cores, L2 caches and other logic blocks tocommunicate with each other within the chip. Each ring data-path is1012-bits wide per direction.

FIG. 17B is an expanded view of part of the processor core in FIG. 17Aaccording to embodiments of the invention. FIG. 17B includes an L1 datacache 1706A part of the L1 cache 1704, as well as more detail regardingthe vector unit 1710 and the vector registers 1714. Specifically, thevector unit 1710 is a 16-wide vector processing unit (VPU) (see the16-wide ALU 1728), which executes one or more of integer,single-precision float, and double-precision float instructions. The VPUsupports swizzling the register inputs with swizzle unit 1720, numericconversion with numeric convert units 1722A-B, and replication withreplication unit 1724 on the memory input. Write mask registers 1726allow predicating resulting vector writes.

Processor with Integrated Memory Controller and Graphics

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a processor 1800 that may have more thanone core, may have an integrated memory controller, and may haveintegrated graphics according to embodiments of the invention. The solidlined boxes in FIG. 18 illustrate a processor 1800 with a single core1802A, a system agent 1810, a set of one or more bus controller units1816, while the optional addition of the dashed lined boxes illustratesan alternative processor 1800 with multiple cores 1802A-N, a set of oneor more integrated memory controller unit(s) 1814 in the system agentunit 1810, and special purpose logic 1808.

Thus, different implementations of the processor 1800 may include: 1) aCPU with the special purpose logic 1808 being integrated graphics and/orscientific (throughput) logic (which may include one or more cores), andthe cores 1802A-N being one or more general purpose cores (e.g., generalpurpose in-order cores, general purpose out-of-order cores, acombination of the two); 2) a coprocessor with the cores 1802A-N being alarge number of special purpose cores intended primarily for graphicsand/or scientific (throughput); and 3) a coprocessor with the cores1802A-N being a large number of general purpose in-order cores. Thus,the processor 1800 may be a general-purpose processor, coprocessor orspecial-purpose processor, such as, for example, a network orcommunication processor, compression engine, graphics processor, GPGPU(general purpose graphics processing unit), a high-throughput manyintegrated core (MIC) coprocessor (including 30 or more cores), embeddedprocessor, or the like. The processor may be implemented on one or morechips. The processor 1800 may be a part of and/or may be implemented onone or more substrates using any of a number of process technologies,such as, for example, BiCMOS, CMOS, or NMOS.

The memory hierarchy includes one or more levels of cache within thecores, a set or one or more shared cache units 1806, and external memory(not shown) coupled to the set of integrated memory controller units1814. The set of shared cache units 1806 may include one or moremid-level caches, such as level 2 (L2), level 3 (L3), level 4 (L4), orother levels of cache, a last level cache (LLC), and/or combinationsthereof. While in one embodiment a ring based interconnect unit 1812interconnects the integrated graphics logic 1808, the set of sharedcache units 1806, and the system agent unit 1810/integrated memorycontroller unit(s) 1814, alternative embodiments may use any number ofwell-known techniques for interconnecting such units. In one embodiment,coherency is maintained between one or more cache units 1806 and cores1802-A-N.

In some embodiments, one or more of the cores 1802A-N are capable ofmulti-threading. The system agent 1810 includes those componentscoordinating and operating cores 1802A-N. The system agent unit 1810 mayinclude for example a power control unit (PCU) and a display unit. ThePCU may be or include logic and components needed for regulating thepower state of the cores 1802A-N and the integrated graphics logic 1808.The display unit is for driving one or more externally connecteddisplays.

The cores 1802A-N may be homogenous or heterogeneous in terms ofarchitecture instruction set; that is, two or more of the cores 1802A-Nmay be capable of execution the same instruction set, while others maybe capable of executing only a subset of that instruction set or adifferent instruction set.

Exemplary Computer Architectures

FIGS. 19-21 are block diagrams of exemplary computer architectures.Other system designs and configurations known in the arts for laptops,desktops, handheld PCs, personal digital assistants, engineeringworkstations, servers, network devices, network hubs, switches, embeddedprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), graphics devices, videogame devices, set-top boxes, micro controllers, cell phones, portablemedia players, hand held devices, and various other electronic devices,are also suitable. In general, a huge variety of systems or electronicdevices capable of incorporating a processor and/or other executionlogic as disclosed herein are generally suitable.

Referring now to FIG. 19, shown is a block diagram of a system 1900 inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The system 1900may include one or more processors 1910, 1915, which are coupled to acontroller hub 1920. In one embodiment the controller hub 1920 includesa graphics memory controller hub (GMCH) 1990 and an Input/Output Hub(IOH) 1950 (which may be on separate chips); the GMCH 1990 includesmemory and graphics controllers to which are coupled memory 1940 and acoprocessor 1945; the IOH 1950 is couples input/output (I/O) devices1960 to the GMCH 1990. Alternatively, one or both of the memory andgraphics controllers are integrated within the processor (as describedherein), the memory 1940 and the coprocessor 1945 are coupled directlyto the processor 1910, and the controller hub 1920 in a single chip withthe IOH 1950.

The optional nature of additional processors 1915 is denoted in FIG. 19with broken lines. Each processor 1910, 1915 may include one or more ofthe processing cores described herein and may be some version of theprocessor 1800.

The memory 1940 may be, for example, dynamic random access memory(DRAM), phase change memory (PCM), or a combination of the two. For atleast one embodiment, the controller hub 1920 communicates with theprocessor(s) 1910, 1915 via a multi-drop bus, such as a frontside bus(FSB), point-to-point interface such as QuickPath Interconnect (QPI), orsimilar connection 1995.

In one embodiment, the coprocessor 1945 is a special-purpose processor,such as, for example, a high-throughput MIC processor, a network orcommunication processor, compression engine, graphics processor, GPGPU,embedded processor, or the like. In one embodiment, controller hub 1920may include an integrated graphics accelerator.

There can be a variety of differences between the physical resources1910, 1915 in terms of a spectrum of metrics of merit includingarchitectural, microarchitectural, thermal, power consumptioncharacteristics, and the like.

In one embodiment, the processor 1910 executes instructions that controldata processing operations of a general type. Embedded within theinstructions may be coprocessor instructions. The processor 1910recognizes these coprocessor instructions as being of a type that shouldbe executed by the attached coprocessor 1945. Accordingly, the processor1910 issues these coprocessor instructions (or control signalsrepresenting coprocessor instructions) on a coprocessor bus or otherinterconnect, to coprocessor 1945. Coprocessor(s) 1945 accept andexecute the received coprocessor instructions.

Referring now to FIG. 20, shown is a block diagram of a first morespecific exemplary system 2000 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown in FIG. 20, multiprocessor system 2000 is apoint-to-point interconnect system, and includes a first processor 2070and a second processor 2080 coupled via a point-to-point interconnect2050. Each of processors 2070 and 2080 may be some version of theprocessor 1800. In one embodiment of the invention, processors 2070 and2080 are respectively processors 1910 and 1915, while coprocessor 2038is coprocessor 1945. In another embodiment, processors 2070 and 2080 arerespectively processor 1910 coprocessor 1945.

Processors 2070 and 2080 are shown including integrated memorycontroller (IMC) units 2072 and 2082, respectively. Processor 2070 alsoincludes as part of its bus controller units point-to-point (P-P)interfaces 2076 and 2078; similarly, second processor 2080 includes P-Pinterfaces 2086 and 2088. Processors 2070, 2080 may exchange informationvia a point-to-point (P-P) interface 2050 using P-P interface circuits2078, 2088. As shown in FIG. 20, IMCs 2072 and 2082 couple theprocessors to respective memories, namely a memory 2032 and a memory2034, which may be portions of main memory locally attached to therespective processors.

Processors 2070, 2080 may each exchange information with a chipset 2090via individual P-P interfaces 2052, 2054 using point to point interfacecircuits 2076, 2094, 2086, 2098. Chipset 2090 may optionally exchangeinformation with the coprocessor 2038 via a high-performance interface2039. In one embodiment, the coprocessor 2038 is a special-purposeprocessor, such as, for example, a high-throughput MIC processor, anetwork or communication processor, compression engine, graphicsprocessor, GPGPU, embedded processor, or the like.

A shared cache (not shown) may be included in either processor oroutside of both processors, yet connected with the processors via P-Pinterconnect, such that either or both processors' local cacheinformation may be stored in the shared cache if a processor is placedinto a low power mode.

Chipset 2090 may be coupled to a first bus 2016 via an interface 2096.In one embodiment, first bus 2016 may be a Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus, or a bus such as a PCI Express bus or anotherthird generation I/O interconnect bus, although the scope of the presentinvention is not so limited.

As shown in FIG. 20, various I/O devices 2014 may be coupled to firstbus 2016, along with a bus bridge 2018 which couples first bus 2016 to asecond bus 2020. In one embodiment, one or more additional processor(s)2015, such as coprocessors, high-throughput MIC processors, GPGPU's,accelerators (such as, e.g., graphics accelerators or digital signalprocessing (DSP) units), field programmable gate arrays, or any otherprocessor, are coupled to first bus 2016. In one embodiment, second bus2020 may be a low pin count (LPC) bus. Various devices may be coupled toa second bus 2020 including, for example, a keyboard and/or mouse 2022,communication devices 2027 and a storage unit 2028 such as a disk driveor other mass storage device which may include instructions/code anddata 2030, in one embodiment. Further, an audio I/O 2024 may be coupledto the second bus 2020. Note that other architectures are possible. Forexample, instead of the point-to-point architecture of FIG. 20, a systemmay implement a multi-drop bus or other such architecture.

Referring now to FIG. 21, shown is a block diagram of a second morespecific exemplary system 2100 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. Like elements in FIGS. 20 and 21 bear like referencenumerals, and certain aspects of FIG. 20 have been omitted from FIG. 21in order to avoid obscuring other aspects of FIG. 21.

FIG. 21 illustrates that the processors 2070, 2080 may includeintegrated memory and I/O control logic (“CL”) 2072 and 2082,respectively. Thus, the CL 2072, 2082 include integrated memorycontroller units and include I/O control logic. FIG. 21 illustrates thatnot only are the memories 2032, 2034 coupled to the CL 2072, 2082, butalso that I/O devices 2114 are also coupled to the control logic 2072,2082. Legacy I/O devices 2115 are coupled to the chipset 2090.

Referring now to FIG. 22, shown is a block diagram of a SoC 2200 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Similar elementsin FIG. 18 bear like reference numerals. Also, dashed lined boxes areoptional features on more advanced SoCs. In FIG. 22, an interconnectunit(s) 2202 is coupled to: an application processor 2210 which includesa set of one or more cores 212A-N and shared cache unit(s) 1806; asystem agent unit 1810; a bus controller unit(s) 1816; an integratedmemory controller unit(s) 1814; a set or one or more coprocessors 2220which may include integrated graphics logic, an image processor, anaudio processor, and a video processor; an static random access memory(SRAM) unit 2230; a direct memory access (DMA) unit 2232; and a displayunit 2240 for coupling to one or more external displays. In oneembodiment, the coprocessor(s) 2220 include a special-purpose processor,such as, for example, a network or communication processor, compressionengine, GPGPU, a high-throughput MIC processor, embedded processor, orthe like.

Embodiments of the mechanisms disclosed herein may be implemented inhardware, software, firmware, or a combination of such implementationapproaches. Embodiments of the invention may be implemented as computerprograms or program code executing on programmable systems comprising atleast one processor, a storage system (including volatile andnon-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device,and at least one output device.

Program code, such as code 2030 illustrated in FIG. 20, may be appliedto input instructions to perform the functions described herein andgenerate output information. The output information may be applied toone or more output devices, in known fashion. For purposes of thisapplication, a processing system includes any system that has aprocessor, such as, for example; a digital signal processor (DSP), amicrocontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or amicroprocessor.

The program code may be implemented in a high level procedural or objectoriented programming language to communicate with a processing system.The program code may also be implemented in assembly or machinelanguage, if desired. In fact, the mechanisms described herein are notlimited in scope to any particular programming language. In any case,the language may be a compiled or interpreted language.

One or more aspects of at least one embodiment may be implemented byrepresentative instructions stored on a machine-readable medium whichrepresents various logic within the processor, which when read by amachine causes the machine to fabricate logic to perform the techniquesdescribed herein. Such representations, known as “IP cores” may bestored on a tangible, machine readable medium and supplied to variouscustomers or manufacturing facilities to load into the fabricationmachines that actually make the logic or processor.

Such machine-readable storage media may include, without limitation,non-transitory, tangible arrangements of articles manufactured or formedby a machine or device, including storage media such as hard disks, anyother type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, compact diskread-only memories (CD-ROMs), compact disk rewritable's (CD-RWs), andmagneto-optical disks, semiconductor devices such as read-only memories(ROMs), random access memories (RAMs) such as dynamic random accessmemories (DRAMs), static random access memories (SRAMs), erasableprogrammable read-only memories (EPROMs), flash memories, electricallyerasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), phase change memory(PCM), magnetic or optical cards, or any other type of media suitablefor storing electronic instructions.

Accordingly, embodiments of the invention also include non-transitory,tangible machine-readable media containing instructions or containingdesign data, such as Hardware Description Language (HDL), which definesstructures, circuits, apparatuses, processors and/or system featuresdescribed herein. Such embodiments may also be referred to as programproducts.

Emulation (Including Binary Translation, Code Morphing, Etc.)

In some cases, an instruction converter may be used to convert aninstruction from a source instruction set to a target instruction set.For example, the instruction converter may translate (e.g., using staticbinary translation, dynamic binary translation including dynamiccompilation), morph, emulate, or otherwise convert an instruction to oneor more other instructions to be processed by the core. The instructionconverter may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or acombination thereof. The instruction converter may be on processor, offprocessor, or part on and part off processor.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram contrasting the use of a software instructionconverter to convert binary instructions in a source instruction set tobinary instructions in a target instruction set according to embodimentsof the invention. In the illustrated embodiment, the instructionconverter is a software instruction converter, although alternativelythe instruction converter may be implemented in software, firmware,hardware, or various combinations thereof. FIG. 23 shows a program in ahigh level language 2302 may be compiled using an x86 compiler 2304 togenerate x86 binary code 2306 that may be natively executed by aprocessor with at least one x86 instruction set core 2316. The processorwith at least one x86 instruction set core 2316 represents any processorthat can perform substantially the same functions as an Intel processorwith at least one x86 instruction set core by compatibly executing orotherwise processing (1) a substantial portion of the instruction set ofthe Intel x86 instruction set core or (2) object code versions ofapplications or other software targeted to run on an Intel processorwith at least one x86 instruction set core, in order to achievesubstantially the same result as an Intel processor with at least onex86 instruction set core. The x86 compiler 2304 represents a compilerthat is operable to generate x86 binary code 2306 (e.g., object code)that can, with or without additional linkage processing, be executed onthe processor with at least one x86 instruction set core 2316.Similarly, FIG. 23 shows the program in the high level language 2302 maybe compiled using an alternative instruction set compiler 2308 togenerate alternative instruction set binary code 2310 that may benatively executed by a processor without at least one x86 instructionset core 2314 (e.g., a processor with cores that execute the MIPSinstruction set of MIPS Technologies of Sunnyvale, Calif. and/or thatexecute the ARM instruction set of ARM Holdings of Sunnyvale, Calif.).The instruction converter 2312 is used to convert the x86 binary code2306 into code that may be natively executed by the processor without anx86 instruction set core 2314. This converted code is not likely to bethe same as the alternative instruction set binary code 2310 because aninstruction converter capable of this is difficult to make; however, theconverted code will accomplish the general operation and be made up ofinstructions from the alternative instruction set. Thus, the instructionconverter 2312 represents software, firmware, hardware, or a combinationthereof that, through emulation, simulation or any other process, allowsa processor or other electronic device that does not have an x86instruction set processor or core to execute the x86 binary code 2306.

Components, features, and details described for any of FIGS. 1-2 and5-11 may also optionally apply to any of FIGS. 3-4. Moreover,components, features, and details described for any of the apparatus mayalso optionally apply to any of the methods, which in embodiments may beperformed by and/or with such apparatus. Any of the processors describedherein may be included in any of the computer systems disclosed herein(e.g., FIGS. 19-23). In some embodiments, the computer system mayinclude a dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Alternatively, thecomputer system may include a type of volatile memory that does not needto be refreshed or flash memory. The instructions disclosed herein maybe performed with any of the processors shown herein, having any of themicroarchitectures shown herein, on any of the systems shown herein. Theinstructions disclosed herein may have any of the features of theinstruction formats shown herein (e.g., in FIGS. 12-14).

In the description and claims, the terms “coupled” and/or “connected,”along with their derivatives, may have be used. These terms are notintended as synonyms for each other. Rather, in embodiments, “connected”may be used to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physicaland/or electrical contact with each other. “Coupled” may mean that twoor more elements are in direct physical and/or electrical contact witheach other. However, “coupled” may also mean that two or more elementsare not in direct contact with each other, but yet still co-operate orinteract with each other. For example, an execution unit may be coupledwith a register and/or a decode unit through one or more interveningcomponents. In the figures, arrows are used to show connections andcouplings.

In the description and/or claims, the terms “logic,” “unit,” “module,”or “component,” may have been used. Each of these terms may be used torefer to hardware, firmware, software, or various combinations thereof.In example embodiments, each of these terms may refer to integratedcircuitry, application specific integrated circuits, analog circuits,digital circuits, programmed logic devices, memory devices includinginstructions, and the like, and various combinations thereof. In someembodiments, these may include at least some hardware (e.g.,transistors, gates, other circuitry components, etc.).

The term “and/or” may have been used. As used herein, the term “and/or”means one or the other or both (e.g., A and/or B means A or B or both Aand B).

In the description above, specific details have been set forth in orderto provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, otherembodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. Thescope of the invention is not to be determined by the specific examplesprovided above, but only by the claims below. In other instances,well-known circuits, structures, devices, and operations have been shownin block diagram form and/or without detail in order to avoid obscuringthe understanding of the description. Where considered appropriate,reference numerals, or terminal portions of reference numerals, havebeen repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogouselements, which may optionally have similar or the same characteristics,unless specified or clearly apparent otherwise.

Certain operations may be performed by hardware components, or may beembodied in machine-executable or circuit-executable instructions, thatmay be used to cause and/or result in a machine, circuit, or hardwarecomponent (e.g., a processor, potion of a processor, circuit, etc.)programmed with the instructions performing the operations. Theoperations may also optionally be performed by a combination of hardwareand software. A processor, machine, circuit, or hardware may includespecific or particular circuitry or other logic (e.g., hardwarepotentially combined with firmware and/or software) is operative toexecute and/or process the instruction and store a result in response tothe instruction.

Some embodiments include an article of manufacture (e.g., a computerprogram product) that includes a machine-readable medium. The medium mayinclude a mechanism that provides, for example stores, information in aform that is readable by the machine. The machine-readable medium mayprovide, or have stored thereon, an instruction or sequence ofinstructions, that if and/or when executed by a machine are operative tocause the machine to perform and/or result in the machine performing oneor operations, methods, or techniques disclosed herein.

In some embodiments, the machine-readable medium may include anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium. For example, thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium may include a floppydiskette, an optical storage medium, an optical disk, an optical datastorage device, a CD-ROM, a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, aread only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), anerasable-and-programmable ROM (EPROM), anelectrically-erasable-and-programmable ROM (EEPROM), a random accessmemory (RAM), a static-RAM (SRAM), a dynamic-RAM (DRAM), a Flash memory,a phase-change memory, a phase-change data storage material, anon-volatile memory, a non-volatile data storage device, anon-transitory memory, a non-transitory data storage device, or thelike. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium does notconsist of a transitory propagated signal. In some embodiments, thestorage medium may include a tangible medium that includes solid matter.

Examples of suitable machines include, but are not limited to, ageneral-purpose processor, a special-purpose processor, a digital logiccircuit, an integrated circuit, or the like. Still other examples ofsuitable machines include a computer system or other electronic devicethat includes a processor, a digital logic circuit, or an integratedcircuit. Examples of such computer systems or electronic devicesinclude, but are not limited to, desktop computers, laptop computers,notebook computers, tablet computers, netbooks, smartphones, cellularphones, servers, network devices (e.g., routers and switches.), MobileInternet devices (MIDs), media players, smart televisions, nettops,set-top boxes, and video game controllers.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” “one or more embodiments,” “some embodiments,” for example,indicates that a particular feature may be included in the practice ofthe invention but is not necessarily required to be. Similarly, in thedescription various features are sometimes grouped together in a singleembodiment, Figure, or description thereof for the purpose ofstreamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of variousinventive aspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to beinterpreted as reflecting an intention that the invention requires morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims followingthe Detailed Description are hereby expressly incorporated into thisDetailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separateembodiment of the invention.

Example Embodiments

The following examples pertain to further embodiments. Specifics in theexamples may be used anywhere in one or more embodiments.

Example 1 is a processor that includes a decode unit to decode a dataelement comparison instruction. The data element comparison instructionis to indicate a first source packed data operand that is to include atleast four data elements, is to indicate a second source packed dataoperand that is to include at least four data elements, and is toindicate one or more destination storage locations. The processor alsoincludes an execution unit coupled with the decode unit. The executionunit, in response to the data element comparison instruction, is tostore at least one result mask operand in the one or more destinationstorage locations. The at least one result mask operand is to include adifferent mask element for each corresponding data element in one of thefirst and second source packed data operands in a same relativeposition. Each mask element is to indicate whether the correspondingdata element in the one of the first and second source packed dataoperands equals any of the data elements in the other of the first andsecond source packed data operands.

Example 2 includes the processor of Example 1, in which the executionunit, in response to the instruction, is to store two result maskoperands in the one or more destination storage locations. The tworesult mask operands are to include a first result mask operand that isto include a different mask element for each corresponding data elementin the first source packed data operand in a same relative position.Each mask element of the first result mask operand to indicate whetherthe corresponding data element in the first source packed data operandequals any of the data elements in the second source packed dataoperand. A second result mask operand is to include a different maskelement for each corresponding data element in the second source packeddata operand in a same relative position. Each mask element of thesecond result mask operand is to indicate whether the corresponding dataelement in the second source packed data operand equals any of the dataelements in the first source packed data operand.

Example 3 includes the processor of Example 2, in which the one or moredestination storage locations comprise a first mask register and asecond mask register, and in which the execution unit, in response tothe instruction, is to store the first result mask operand in the firstmask register and is to store the second result mask operand in thesecond mask register.

Example 4 includes the processor of Example 2, in which the one or moredestination storage locations comprise a single mask register, and inwhich the execution unit, in response to the instruction, is to storethe first result mask operand and the second result mask operand in thesingle mask register.

Example 5 includes the processor of Example 4, in which the executionunit, in response to the instruction, is to store the first result maskoperand in a least significant portion of the single mask register andis to store the second result mask operand in a portion of the singlemask register more significant than the least significant portion.

Example 6 includes the processor of Example 1, in which the executionunit, in response to the instruction, is to store both a first resultmask operand and a second result mask operand in a packed data register,and in which each data element in the packed data register is to haveboth a mask element of the first result mask operand and a mask elementof the second result mask operand.

Example 7 includes the processor of Example 1, in which the executionunit, in response to the instruction, is to store a single result maskoperand in a single mask register.

Example 8 includes the processor of Example 1, in which the executionunit, in response to the instruction, is to store the at least oneresult mask operand in at least one mask register, and in which aninstruction set of the processor includes masked packed datainstructions that are operative to indicate the at least one maskregister as a storage location for a source mask operand that is to beused to mask a packed data operation.

Example 9 includes the processor of any one of Examples 1 to 8, in whichthe execution unit, in response to the instruction, is to store a numberof result mask bits in the at least one result mask operand that is notmore than a number of data elements in the first and second sourcepacked data operands.

Example 10 includes the processor of any one of Examples 1 to 8, inwhich the execution unit, in response to the instruction, is to storethe at least one result mask operand in which each mask element includesa single mask bit.

Example 11 includes the processor of any one of Examples 1 to 8, inwhich the decode unit is to decode the instruction that is to indicatethe first source packed data operand that is to include at least eightdata elements, and to indicate the second source packed data operandthat is to include at least eight data elements.

Example 12 includes the processor of any one of Examples 1 to 8, inwhich the decode unit is to decode the instruction that is to indicatethe first source packed data operand which is to include at least512-bits, and is to indicate the second source packed data operand whichis to include at least 512-bits.

Example 13 is a method in a processor including receiving a data elementcomparison instruction. The data element comparison instructionindicating a first source packed data operand including at least fourdata elements, indicating a second source packed data operand includingat least four data elements, indicating one or more destination storagelocations. The method also includes storing at least one result maskoperand in the one or more destination storage locations in response tothe data element comparison instruction. The at least one result maskoperand including a different mask element for each corresponding dataelement in one of the first and second source packed data operands in asame relative position. Each mask element indicating whether thecorresponding data element in the one of the first and second sourcepacked data operands equals any of the data elements in the other of thefirst and second source packed data operands.

Example 14 includes the method of Example 13, in which storing includesstoring a first result mask operand in the one or more destinationstorage locations. The first result mask operand including a differentmask element for each corresponding data element in the first sourcepacked data operand in a same relative position. Each mask element ofthe first result mask operand indicating whether the corresponding dataelement in the first source packed data operand equals any of the dataelements in the second source packed data operand. Also, in whichstoring includes storing a second result mask operand in the one or moredestination storage locations. The second result mask operand includinga different mask element for each corresponding data element in thesecond source packed data operand in a same relative position. Each maskelement of the second result mask operand indicating whether thecorresponding data element in the second source packed data operandequals any of the data elements in the first source packed data operand.

Example 15 includes the method of Example 14, in which storing the firstresult mask operand includes storing the first result mask operand in afirst mask register, and in which storing the second result mask operandincludes storing the second result mask operand in a second maskregister.

Example 16 includes the method of Example 14, in which storing the firstresult mask operand and storing the second result mask operand includesstoring both the first and second result mask operands in a single maskregister.

Example 17 includes the method of Example 13, in which storing the atleast one result mask operand in the one or more destination storagelocations includes storing both a first result mask operand and a secondresult mask operand in a result packed data operand.

Example 18 includes the method of Example 13, further includingreceiving a masked packed data instruction indicating the at least oneresult mask operand as a predicate operand.

Example 19 is a system to process instructions including aninterconnect, and a processor coupled with the interconnect. Theprocessor is to receive a data element comparison instruction. Theinstruction is to indicate a first source packed data operand that is toinclude at least four data elements, is to indicate a second sourcepacked data operand that is to include at least four data elements, andis to indicate one or more destination storage locations. The processor,in response to the instruction, is to store at least one result maskoperand in the one or more destination storage locations. The at leastone result mask operand is to include a different mask bit for eachcorresponding data element in one of the first and second source packeddata operands in a same relative position. Each mask bit is to indicatewhether the corresponding data element in the one of the first andsecond source packed data operands equals any of the data elements inthe other of the first and second source packed data operands. Thesystem also includes a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) coupled withthe interconnect. The DRAM optionally stores a sparse vector-sparsevector arithmetic algorithm. The sparse vector-sparse vector arithmeticalgorithm optionally includes a masked data element consolidationinstruction that is to indicate the at least one result mask operand asa source operand to mask a data element consolidation operation.

Example 20 includes the system of Example 19, in which the executionunit in response to the instruction is to store two result mask operandseach corresponding to a different one of the source packed dataoperands, in which the two result mask operands are to be stored in atleast one mask register.

Example 21 is an article of manufacture including a non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium. The non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium storing a data element comparison instruction. Theinstruction is to indicate a first source packed data operand that is toinclude at least four data elements, to indicate a second source packeddata operand that is to include at least four data elements, and toindicate one or more destination storage locations. The instruction ifexecuted by a machine is to cause the machine to perform operationsincluding store a first result mask operand in the one or moredestination storage locations. The first result mask operand to includea different mask bit for each corresponding data element in the firstsource packed data operand in a same relative position. Each mask bit toindicating whether the corresponding data element in the first sourcepacked data operand equals any of the data elements in the second sourcepacked data operand.

Example 22 includes the article of manufacture of Example 21, in whichthe instruction if executed by a machine is to cause the machine toperform operations including store a second result mask operand in theone or more destination storage locations. Also, optionally in which theone or more destination storage locations comprise at least one maskregister. Also, optionally in which the first and second result maskoperands together have no more mask bits than a number of data elementsin the first and second source packed data operands.

Example 23 includes the processor of any one of Examples 1 to 8, furtherincluding an optional branch prediction unit to predict branches, and anoptional instruction prefetch unit, coupled with the branch predictionunit, the instruction prefetch unit to prefetch instructions includingthe data element comparison instruction. The processor may alsooptionally include a optional level 1 (L1) instruction cache coupledwith the instruction prefetch unit, the L 1 instruction cache to storeinstructions, an optional L1 data cache to store data, and an optionallevel 2 (L2) cache to store data and instructions. The processor mayalso optionally include an instruction fetch unit coupled with thedecode unit, the L1 instruction cache, and the L2 cache, to fetch thedata element comparison instruction, in some cases from one of the L1instruction cache and the L2 cache, and to provide the data elementcomparison instruction to the decode unit. The processor may alsooptionally include a register rename unit to rename registers, anoptional scheduler to schedule one or more operations that have beendecoded from the data element comparison instruction for execution, andan optional commit unit to commit execution results of the data elementcomparison instruction.

Example 24 includes a system-on-chip that includes at least oneinterconnect, the processor of any one of Examples 1 to 8 coupled withthe at least one interconnect, an optional graphics processing unit(GPU) coupled with the at least one interconnect, an optional digitalsignal processor (DSP) coupled with the at least one interconnect, anoptional display controller coupled with the at least one interconnect,an optional memory controller coupled with the at least oneinterconnect, an optional wireless modem coupled with the at least oneinterconnect, an optional image signal processor coupled with the atleast one interconnect, an optional Universal Serial Bus (USB) 3.0compatible controller coupled with the at least one interconnect, anoptional Bluetooth 4.1 compatible controller coupled with the at leastone interconnect, and an optional wireless transceiver controllercoupled with the at least one interconnect.

Example 25 is a processor or other apparatus to perform or operative toperform the method of any one of Examples 13 to 18.

Example 26 is a processor or other apparatus that includes means forperforming the method of any one of Examples 13 to 18.

Example 27 is an article of manufacture that includes an optionallynon-transitory machine-readable medium, which optionally stores orotherwise provides an instruction, which if and/or when executed by aprocessor, computer system, electronic device, or other machine, isoperative to cause the machine to perform the method of any one ofExamples 13 to 18.

Example 28 is a processor or other apparatus substantially as describedherein.

Example 29 is a processor or other apparatus that is operative toperform any method substantially as described herein.

Example 30 is a processor or other apparatus to perform (e.g., that hascomponents to perform or that is operative to perform) any data elementcomparison instruction substantially as described herein.

Example 31 is a computer system or other electronic device that includesa processor having a decode unit to decode instructions of a firstinstruction set. The processor also has one or more execution units. Theelectronic device also includes a storage device coupled with theprocessor. The storage device is to store a first instruction, which maybe any of the data element comparison instructions substantially asdisclosed herein, and which is to be of a second instruction set. Thestorage device is also to store instructions to convert the firstinstruction into one or more instructions of the first instruction set.The one or more instructions of the first instruction set, whenperformed by the processor, are to cause the processor to store any ofthe results of the first instruction disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A processor comprising: a decode unit to decode adata element comparison instruction, the data element comparisoninstruction to indicate a first source packed data operand that is toinclude at least four data elements, to indicate a second source packeddata operand that is to include at least four data elements, and toindicate one or more destination storage locations; and an executionunit coupled with the decode unit, the execution unit, in response tothe data element comparison instruction, to store at least one resultmask operand in the one or more destination storage locations, the atleast one result mask operand to include a different mask element foreach corresponding data element in one of the first and second sourcepacked data operands in a same relative position, each mask element toindicate whether the corresponding data element in said one of the firstand second source packed data operands equals any of the data elementsin the other of the first and second source packed data operands.
 2. Theprocessor of claim 1, wherein the execution unit, in response to theinstruction, is to store two result mask operands in the one or moredestination storage locations, the two result mask operands to include:a first result mask operand that is to include a different mask elementfor each corresponding data element in the first source packed dataoperand in a same relative position, each mask element of the firstresult mask operand to indicate whether the corresponding data elementin the first source packed data operand equals any of the data elementsin the second source packed data operand; and a second result maskoperand that is to include a different mask element for eachcorresponding data element in the second source packed data operand in asame relative position, each mask element of the second result maskoperand to indicate whether the corresponding data element in the secondsource packed data operand equals any of the data elements in the firstsource packed data operand.
 3. The processor of claim 2, wherein the oneor more destination storage locations comprise a first mask register anda second mask register, and wherein the execution unit, in response tothe instruction, is to store the first result mask operand in the firstmask register and is to store the second result mask operand in thesecond mask register.
 4. The processor of claim 2, wherein the one ormore destination storage locations comprise a single mask register, andwherein the execution unit, in response to the instruction, is to storethe first result mask operand and the second result mask operand in thesingle mask register.
 5. The processor of claim 4, wherein the executionunit, in response to the instruction, is to store the first result maskoperand in a least significant portion of the single mask register andis to store the second result mask operand in a portion of the singlemask register more significant than the least significant portion. 6.The processor of claim 1, wherein the execution unit, in response to theinstruction, is to store both a first result mask operand and a secondresult mask operand in a packed data register, and wherein each dataelement in the packed data register is to have both a mask element ofthe first result mask operand and a mask element of the second resultmask operand.
 7. The processor of claim 1, wherein the execution unit,in response to the instruction, is to store a single result mask operandin a single mask register.
 8. The processor of claim 1, wherein theexecution unit, in response to the instruction, is to store the at leastone result mask operand in at least one mask register, and wherein aninstruction set of the processor includes masked packed datainstructions that are operative to indicate the at least one maskregister as a storage location for a source mask operand that is to beused to mask a packed data operation.
 9. The processor of claim 1,wherein the execution unit, in response to the instruction, is to storea number of result mask bits in the at least one result mask operandthat is not more than a number of data elements in the first and secondsource packed data operands.
 10. The processor of claim 1, wherein theexecution unit, in response to the instruction, is to store the at leastone result mask operand in which each mask element comprises a singlemask bit.
 11. The processor of claim 1, wherein the decode unit is todecode the instruction that is to indicate the first source packed dataoperand that is to include at least eight data elements, and to indicatethe second source packed data operand that is to include at least eightdata elements.
 12. The processor of claim 1, wherein the decode unit isto decode the instruction that is to indicate the first source packeddata operand which is to include at least 512-bits, and is to indicatethe second source packed data operand which is to include at least512-bits.
 13. A method in a processor comprising: receiving a dataelement comparison instruction, the data element comparison instructionindicating a first source packed data operand including at least fourdata elements, indicating a second source packed data operand includingat least four data elements, indicating one or more destination storagelocations; and storing at least one result mask operand in the one ormore destination storage locations in response to the data elementcomparison instruction, the at least one result mask operand including adifferent mask element for each corresponding data element in one of thefirst and second source packed data operands in a same relativeposition, each mask element indicating whether the corresponding dataelement in said one of the first and second source packed data operandsequals any of the data elements in the other of the first and secondsource packed data operands.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein storingcomprises: storing a first result mask operand in the one or moredestination storage locations, the first result mask operand including adifferent mask element for each corresponding data element in the firstsource packed data operand in a same relative position, each maskelement of the first result mask operand indicating whether thecorresponding data element in the first source packed data operandequals any of the data elements in the second source packed dataoperand; and storing a second result mask operand in the one or moredestination storage locations, the second result mask operand includinga different mask element for each corresponding data element in thesecond source packed data operand in a same relative position, each maskelement of the second result mask operand indicating whether thecorresponding data element in the second source packed data operandequals any of the data elements in the first source packed data operand.15. The method of claim 14, wherein storing the first result maskoperand comprises storing the first result mask operand in a first maskregister, and wherein storing the second result mask operand comprisesstoring the second result mask operand in a second mask register. 16.The method of claim 14, wherein storing the first result mask operandand storing the second result mask operand comprises storing both thefirst and second result mask operands in a single mask register.
 17. Themethod of claim 13, wherein storing the at least one result mask operandin the one or more destination storage locations comprises storing botha first result mask operand and a second result mask operand in a resultpacked data operand.
 18. The method of claim 13, further comprisingreceiving a masked packed data instruction indicating the at least oneresult mask operand as a predicate operand.
 19. A system to processinstructions comprising: an interconnect; a processor coupled with theinterconnect, the processor to receive a data element comparisoninstruction, the instruction indicate a first source packed data operandthat is to include at least four data elements, to indicate a secondsource packed data operand that is to include at least four dataelements, and to indicate one or more destination storage locations, theprocessor, in response to the instruction, to store at least one resultmask operand in the one or more destination storage locations, the atleast one result mask operand to include a different mask bit for eachcorresponding data element in one of the first and second source packeddata operands in a same relative position, each mask bit to indicatewhether the corresponding data element in said one of the first andsecond source packed data operands equals any of the data elements inthe other of the first and second source packed data operands; and adynamic random access memory (DRAM) coupled with the interconnect, theDRAM storing a sparse vector-sparse vector arithmetic algorithm, thesparse vector-sparse vector arithmetic algorithm to include a maskeddata element consolidation instruction that is to indicate the at leastone result mask operand as a source operand to mask a data elementconsolidation operation.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein theexecution unit in response to the instruction is to store two resultmask operands each corresponding to a different one of the source packeddata operands, wherein the two result mask operands are to be stored inat least one mask register.
 21. The system of claim 19, wherein theprocessor, in response to the instruction, is to store a number ofresult mask bits in the at least one result mask operand that is notmore than a number of data elements in the first and second sourcepacked data operands.
 22. The system of claim 19, wherein each of thefirst and second source packed data operands has at least eight dataelements.
 23. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium, the non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium storing a data element comparison instruction, theinstruction to indicate a first source packed data operand that is toinclude at least four data elements, to indicate a second source packeddata operand that is to include at least four data elements, and toindicate one or more destination storage locations, and the instructionif executed by a machine is to cause the machine to perform operationscomprising: store a first result mask operand in the one or moredestination storage locations, the first result mask operand to includea different mask bit for each corresponding data element in the firstsource packed data operand in a same relative position, each mask bit toindicating whether the corresponding data element in the first sourcepacked data operand equals any of the data elements in the second sourcepacked data operand.
 24. The article of manufacture of claim 21, whereinthe instruction if executed by a machine is to cause the machine toperform operations comprising store a second result mask operand in theone or more destination storage locations, and wherein the one or moredestination storage locations comprise at least one mask register, andwherein the first and second result mask operands together have no moremask bits than a number of data elements in the first and second sourcepacked data operands.